


Continuous Circle

by Arwennicole



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/M, Secret Children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2020-12-12 04:10:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20974712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arwennicole/pseuds/Arwennicole
Summary: Sam has been keeping a secret from her team since the beginning, but how long can she keep that secret? Starts right before "Children of the Gods" and goes from there.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A Day in Her Life

The small two story military home was quiet as it was two o’clock in the morning. Captain Samantha Carter was fast asleep in her bed, her alarm set to go off in a few hours. She had one hand tucked under her pillow and her other hand resting under her head. Her comforter was pulled up to her shoulders trying to cut out the cool Colorado Springs chill. Everything was peaceful until the monitor next to her bed started to fuzz and immediately her eyes were open and she was sitting up in bed. A second later, a cry was heard over the little speaker. Getting out of bed wearing a pair of her favorite gray sweatpants and a long gray night shirt with ‘Air Force’ written across the chest, Sam made her way down the hall.

Reaching a small bedroom, the walls were painted white, but up against the walls were mahogany dressers with some stuffed animals sitting on top. There was a mahogany changing station over in the far right corner and a rocking chair in the opposite corner. By the window there was a matching crib with a mobile that had stars and spaceships hanging above it. There were soft cries and whimpers coming from the crib. “Hey, it’s okay,” Sam said softly, tiredly as she reached into the crib and lifting a four-month-old infant up into her arms. She pressed a gentle kiss to the baby’s head, feeling the weight in her diaper telling her that it needed changing. That wasn’t much of a surprise since she was fed only a few hours before that.

Walking over to the changing table, she set the baby down and made sure she was secure before taking off the little yellow onesie. Smiling, she changed her daughter’s diaper and put on a new onesie. The baby had long stopped crying and her brown eyes stared up into Sam’s blue eyes. “Hi,” she cooed softly. She reached down and stroked her cheek tenderly before picking her back up and sat in the rocking chair with her in her arms. “You know, momma’s going to miss you when she’s gone,” she commented, touching her tiny hand. She kissed her tiny forehead and watched as she started to fall asleep. Sam looked up at the name that her brother, Mark, had put up for her in the previous nursery she had when she was still working at the Pentagon. The little sign above the crib read ‘Jessie’. 

As angry and distant Mark was with his sister, he couldn’t deny her help when she asked for it. They were even there when Jessie was born, welcoming their new niece into the world with open, loving arms. When she had been given her assignment to move to Colorado Springs, Mark was quite disappointed that she would stay with the military and move Jessie around just as their father had when they were growing up. He now kept in touch just so he could have a relationship with Jessie, but that was as far as their discussions ever went. The thought made Sam sigh a little, but she knew she made the right choice.

Once Jessie was fast asleep, Sam watched her sleep for a few more minutes before she had to put her back in her crib so she could get some more sleep herself. Today was going to be a bittersweet day, this was her first day back on active duty since giving birth. As disappointed as she was that she didn’t get a chance to go through the Stargate during its first mission over a year ago, she was grateful that at this moment she was finally being given the chance to join the Stargate program now. This was the chance of a lifetime and she could only hope that when Jessie grew bigger, she would understand the choices her mother made to give her the best life possible. On that thought, Sam left the nursery to go back to bed to get a few more hours of sleep if that were possible.

Sam’s alarm went off sooner than she had wanted, but she did get out of bed, showered, and got ready for her day. Making her way down the stairs she could smell coffee brewing in the kitchen. “Good morning,” Cheryl, Sam’s best friend, greeted smiling.

“You’re early,” Sam commented.  
“Yeah, I figured you’d want to get started early and needed help with Jessie,” Cheryl replied, handing her a cup.

Sam took the cup and took a sip as she leaned back against the counter. “Cheryl, I want to thank you and Greg again for…” she started to say. Cheryl waved her hand.

“Hey, if the tables were turned you’d do the same for me,” Cheryl insisted.

Sam nodded in agreement. “She’s been asleep for a couple of hours now, she’s been changed but she’s going to want to eat when she wakes up,” she explained.

“And she has plenty of formula at my place,” Cheryl reassured her.

Before she could answer, they could hear Jessie crying and Sam put her cup down to get her.

When Sam came back down, Jessie was awake and ready for her bottle that Cheryl had ready. Sam took the bottle and started to feed her. The baby was smiling up at her around the bottle. “Yeah, aren’t you getting big,” Sam cooed. She kissed her forehead and Cheryl could see the struggle in her eyes.

“She’ll be fine,” Cheryl reassured her.  
“I know,” Sam replied, “Doesn’t make it easier.”

Cheryl nodded in understanding, rubbing Sam’s arm. “Uhm, I have some things packed for her, they’re over by the stairs,” Sam told her. Cheryl left Sam alone with Jessie so she could get her things into the car and Sam just smiled. 

“Well, it won’t be forever, all right? Between you and me, your mom is going to go do amazing things that will benefit your future,” she said quietly.

The bottle was empty, the baby was burped and changed in her outfit for the day. “You better get going,” Cheryl stated gently. Sam nodded and gave Jessie a big smile.

“You will behave for your Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Greg,” Sam told the baby.

As an answer, Jessie gripped her index finger tightly and smiled up at her. Sam smiled back before handing her off to Cheryl. “Say, ‘bye-bye, mommy, we’ll see you in a couple of weeks’,” Cheryl said waving the baby’s hand. Sam waved and Cheryl left and the Air Force Captain sat down with a heavy breath. Damn these hormones! She got herself together and got back up to finish preparing for her day.

Arriving at the SGC Base, Sam had to contain her excitement that she was finally part of this project as she was driven through the gates.

They gave her the security clearance she needed and she was due for a briefing as soon as she was ready. She made her way towards the briefing room when she could hear two people talking. “Carter’s our expert when it comes to the Stargate,” she heard General Hammond say. The next voice she heard though made her stop.

“Where is he transferring from?” Colonel Jack O’Neill asked.

Sam stepped in the room. “SHE is transferring form the Pentagon,” she replied, making him look up. She stood in front of him with a slight smirk. “I take it you’re Colonel O’Neill?” she asked. He gave her a nod and she saluted him. “Captain Samantha Carter reporting, sir,” she informed him. The colonel saluted back.

“But of course you go by ‘Sam’,” Major Charles Kowalski commented with a smirk.  
“You don’t have to worry, Major, I played with dolls when I was a kid,” Sam replied.  
“GI Joe?” Kowalski asked.  
“No, Major Matt Mason,” she replied.  
“Oh…” Kolwaski said then turned to his teammate, “Who?”  
“Major Matt Mason, astronaut doll. Did you have the cool backpack that made him fly?” the teammate asked.

Sam smirked a little. “Let’s get started, Colonel?” General Hammond stated as Sam sat down.

“Thank you, General,” Colonel O’Neill answered.

Sam adjusted herself in her seat and listened to the briefing.

After being told they were being sent through the Stargate, Sam was in the locker room getting her combat uniform on. She stood at her locker when she reached into her bag and removed a picture she had of Jessie inside. It was a picture of her fast asleep in the little bassinet that Mark’s wife had given her at her baby shower. She had a little pink blanket over her, her little arms were up by her head, and by her head was a stuffed giraffe that Sam had bought when she first found out she was pregnant.

With a heavy breath, Sam took the photograph and put it in the pocket of her uniform jacket. “Captain,” she heard the Colonel call from the door.

“Coming, sir,” she replied.

Grabbing her helmet, Sam left the locker room.

Two weeks later, what a rush of a first mission. They not only found a new enemy called the Goa’uld, but they gained a new ally, Teal’C a Jaffa. Dr. Daniel Jackson returned through the Stargate with the promise from the people on Abydos that he would return when they saved both his wife, Sha’re, and her brother, Skaara, who had been captured and implanted with Goa’uld symbiotes. The next few days were trying some new Stargate addresses to explore any planet they could find.

Now, Sam was able to get at least a couple of days of leave and was heading to Cheryl and Greg’s. Since she was officially on the roster she could actually start driving herself. 

Getting out of the car, Sam waved the driver off and walked up to Cheryl’s house. Knocking on the door, she heard the pitter patter of feet running to the door and the door swung open revealing Cheryl’s five-year-old son, Timmy. “Auntie Sam!” he exclaimed excitedly.

“Hey, kiddo,” Sam answered, picking the boy up and he hugged her tightly.

Cheryl turned the corner and smiled. “Hey, welcome home!” she greeted.

“Thanks,” Sam replied before Cheryl hugged her.  
“How’s the new job?” Cheryl asked.  
“Oh you know, uneventful really,” Sam replied.  
“Well being locked up in mountain all day doesn’t sound all that fun really, but you do what you have to do right?” Cheryl asked as she led Sam into the living room.  
“Yeah,” Sam replied with a slight smirk.

Her smile brightened when she saw her little girl in a little walker. “There’s my baby girl,” she cooed, picking her up. Jessie beamed in recognition and her tiny hands tapped Sam’s face. “Mama missed you,” she cooed.

“She is one happy baby,” Cheryl commented.  
“Well mommy’s home for a couple of days,” Sam said smiling.

She stroked her cheek and Jessie looked up at her and was cooing. “We still aren’t a fan of tummy time,” Cheryl added.

“Wait until you start to crawl then you’ll never worry about tummy time again,” Sam commented as she sat down.

Cheryl smirked as she sat across from her as Sam held Jessie in her lap. As short of a time she had right now at home, she would enjoy the moments she was going to have with Jessie while she had them.


	2. Changing Laws

Sam was preparing for her next mission, after everything that happened within the last month it was pretty unbelievable. She opened her locker, putting her picture of Jessie back in her vest pocket. “Carter, ready?” Jack called from the door.

“Yes, sir,” she replied.

Jack was leaning against the wall by the locker room as she walked out. “Waiting for me, sir?” she asked.

“Why not?” he asked as they walked down the hall.  
“I would’ve thought you’d be in the embarkation room with Daniel and Teal’c,” she commented.  
“And listen to Daniel babble about his excitement about what could possibly be found on the other side?” Jack answered.   
“Well it is pretty exciting, all the opportunities of the kind of things we could find on other planets. What kind of materials we could use on our planet all the way up to weapons to protect the planet from Goa’uld?” she replied.

Jack pulled on his baseball cap. “And this is what I was trying to avoid,” he commented. 

“Sorry, sir,” she answered.

They walked through the halls in silence and entered the embarkation room.

Reaching the other side of the gate, Sam stumbled a little but looked back as the gate closed behind her. “This looks like the ruins of an ancient temple destroyed long ago,” Teal’c informed them. Sam looked around at all the rocks surrounding them.

“Well, I say we keep moving before we run into someone who remembers why,” Jack answered as he slid his sunglasses over his face.

They continued walking further into the green fields that were surrounding them. Sam was a bit taken aback by how open this planet was. The birds were singing in the distance, it was beautiful even. “There’s no signs of human life anywhere,” Daniel commented.

“This could be some forbidden zone,” Teal’c answered.

Sam frowned, recognizing a sound in the distance. “Wait…” she trailed off, “I hear something, it sounds like…dogs.” Jack held up his binoculars and sure enough he saw a young man running down the grassy hills trying to escape a pack of dogs that were chasing him. Immediately they started running in that direction to the young man’s shouts of help and pain.

Jack pulled out his pistol and started firing in the air, scaring the animals off. Sam and Teal’c chased them to make sure they wouldn’t come back. Walking back, Sam let out a sigh as she went to check the young man for injuries. “This is Teal’c,” Daniel informed the young man as they walked back up. Then he gestured to Sam. “And this is Dr. Carter,” he informed the young man. 

Suddenly, the young man’s eyes diverted away and he walked over to Jack. “This is a woman?” she heard him demand.

“Oh yeah,” Jack replied, nodding his head.

Sam was extremely confused by the young man’s behavior. “Do I have something growing out of my nose?” she asked confused. Daniel walked over to her.

“He looks really upset,” Daniel replied, “It must be some cultural thing.”

Sam shrugged her shoulders quite confused and walked over to Jack and the young man. “No!” he exclaimed, holding his hand up to her face, “I cannot look at you!” 

“Okay, now I’m hurt,” Sam commented to Jack.

Before Jack could respond they saw three men on horses riding up. “You must take her! Take her and go!” the young man exclaimed, “Go!” The three men rode up to them and the young man, Abu, approached them informing them how these strangers saved his life. Yet, they ignored his explanation.

“That is a woman?” one of them demanded, all three of them looking disgusted.  
“Yes,” Abu replied.  
“Jack, I think these are Mongols,” Daniel informed him.

Jack looked over at the archeologist. “Is that a good thing?” he asked.

“Daniel, find out what I did wrong so I can fix it,” Sam insisted.

One of the men dismounted his horse and started approaching them. “No, no, let them go!” Abu insisted, trying to push him back.

“He’s right, we’ll just take her and go,” Daniel assured the man.

Instead of being appeased, Daniel was shoved backwards and all weapons were drawn. Jack immediately saw an arrow aimed right for Sam and stood in front of her. He reached for his pistol again and shot it in the air, startling all the men and the horses. With a smirk, he waved it back and forth but he didn’t move from his spot in front of Sam. “Colonel, I think I can handle myself,” Sam told him quietly.

“Just humor me, Captain,” he replied.

Before she cold protest there was another rider who approached. Abu approached the man and greeted him. It was obvious this man was Abu’s father. “I would be in a dog’s stomach now but for these,” Abu informed his father, gesturing to the team.

“Is this any way to greet a stranger?” the leader demanded.

The rider who had attacked Daniel held his hand up. “That one is a woman,” he informed his leader. Jack glanced over his shoulder at Sam.

“Observant bunch,” he commented.

Abu shook his head. “Father, they come from the Sea of Ogada! They do not know our ways,” he insisted.

“Law is law. What manner of weapon is that?” Abu’s father demanded, gesturing to Jack’s gun.  
“It’s a firearm. It shoots like your bow shoots an arrow,” Sam explained.

Jack saw the glare in the man’s eyes as Sam spoke. “She speaks, she dies!” he snapped, gesturing to his men. Jack and the others held their own weapons up in retaliation as the men approached.

“No, no! She saved my life!” Abu called out.

Abu’s father stopped his men. “If a woman saved a life…hers cannot be taken,” he informed his men, “You’re my guests. If you will travel this country, you must learn our ways.” 

“I think we should just go back while we’re ahead,” Sam replied.  
“If we learn their customs we should be okay,” Daniel assured her.

Sam looked over at Daniel almost irritated. “It’s an incredible opportunity to study an ancient culture up close,” he added. Sam looked at Jack who just shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s just a couple of days, Captain,” he assured her.

With a heavy breath, Sam reluctantly followed her team to their village. Quickly, some women grabbed Sam by her arm and pulled her away from the team and into another tent. Daniel was going on about the architecture of the village but Sam’s excitement about visiting this world dwindled a little. Walking over to the entrance, Sam pulled the curtain back and watched as Abu helped his father off his horse and the older man was limping in their direction. He entered the tent with a smile. “Please, sit, NOW you may talk,” he told Sam.

“Uh…good…because I still don’t understand what happened out there,” Sam replied.  
“Among our people, it is death for a woman to show her face in public,” Moughal, Abu’s father, informed her.  
“Or wear the clothes of a man,” Abu answered.  
“The old laws weigh heavily. It is well you saved Abu from the dogs. It gave me a way to prevent your death,” Moughal stated as they all sat down.  
“Uh, thank you for that,” Sam answered.

They started discussing the idea of seeing what kind of medicines the tribe could carry and Abu smiled brightly when Sam was interested in seeing what they had. “I will show you,” he told them. Sam went to get up from her seat.

“I’m afraid, you cannot go until you are properly attired,” Moughal told Sam.  
“Properly attired?” Sam asked stunned.  
“You should probably do what they want. Anthropologists do it all the time, they dress and live among the people they’re studying,” Daniel explained trying to calm the irritated Captain down.  
“I’m NOT an anthropologist,” Sam said irritated to Daniel.

Jack smirked at her. “You are today,” he replied. He patted her shoulder and the men got up to leave. Abu’s mother took Sam by the arm and led her away to another tent. They found some clothing for her to wear.

Sam was reluctant but she did change out of her uniform and into the blue, silk dress they had brought forward. One of the women went to take her vest away. “Um, wait a minute,” she insisted, making the woman stop. Reaching into the vest, Sam pulled out the picture of Jessie. The women looked at her surprised to see an image of a child in such a way. “It’s a picture, we have equipment that gives us the ability to capture images of anything you want to keep a memory of,” Sam explained. Abu’s mother looked at the picture.

“This is yours?” she asked softly.

Sam nodded with a smile. “Mine,” she replied. Abu’s mother smiled behind her veil.

“Beautiful,” she told Sam.  
“Thank you,” Sam replied.

She put the picture in the bodice of the dress before one of the women came forward with the most extravagant headdress she had ever seen. She let out a sigh, she was going to kill Daniel for this.

She was lead back over to the tent as before and the team returned. “Daniel, find me an anthropologist who would dress like this and I will EAT this headdress,” she told him. Abu approached her with a look of adoration on his face.

“You are the most beautiful woman, I have ever seen,” he told her.

She could see Jack smirking in the back of the group and then Abu left in quite the hurry. “Guess the kid doesn’t get out much,” she commented. She grabbed the veil. “Look, I will not wear this over my face. I don’t care how much embroidery there is on it and this…dress…or whatever it’s called I mean…I can’t move I can’t walk…” she ranted. Jack walked out from behind Teal’c.

“I don’t know, it kinda works for me,” he commented as he removed his hat.  
“It’s you,” Daniel answered quickly.

Sam shook her head as her team tried to make her feel better about the outfit. Since they were going to be able to enjoy the actual culture outside while she was stuck inside, she decided to just go to bed.

Well, that idea was scrapped when Abu kidnapped her in the middle of the night to trade her for another girl. Now she was sitting in this other camp being held prisoner by an even more evil tribal leader. She was disgusted whenever he looked at her.

Jack was furious as they were trying to find where Abu took Carter. If he ever got his hands on that kid, he was going to wish the dogs got him instead. They were outside the camp, watching the people move about. Moughal was talking about how he would go to trade with this leader in the morning. “What will happen to Captain Carter tonight?” Teal’c asked.

“Tonight, he will indulge in his newest purchase,” Moughal replied.

Daniel’s face dropped and Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Oooh there’s not a CHANCE in Hell,” Jack said.

“No one denies Turghan and lives,” Moughal stated.

Sam was sitting in the middle of the dyed blankets. She was feeling like she was running out of options. She couldn’t run, they would find her again. She also didn’t want to leave Turghan’s daughter, Nia, behind. She rubbed her hands together when she suddenly heard a commotion outside. Standing up, she walked over to the blankets and pulled it back. The first person she saw was Jack approaching one of Turghan’s men. Turghan approached the group of men. “Yes,” she said relieved. She looked over at Nia, if she was going to get this girl to escape she had to do it now.

Grabbing some brush off the ground she held it over the fire and it ignited. She placed it under one of the dyed blankets, grabbing Nia’s hand she pulled her away as the blanket ignited. The villagers were distracted with the blanket, trying to put out the fire. “Go, go, go Nia, go now,” Sam ordered, pushing the girl towards the trees. Nia immediately pulled her veil around her face and ran into the forest while Sam looked back at the tent that Turghan had taken her team to.

Jack stood in the camp with the rest of the group. “I have paid 300 weights of gold,” Turghan told the group.

“That’s enough to buy ten women,” Moughal whispered.  
“How much are you willing to spend to get her back?” Jack asked curiously, resting his hands on his gun that was around his torso.  
“We will offer 350 weights of gold,” Moughal told Turghan.

Turghan was obviously not amused by the Shavidi’s offer. “She is difficult…” he told Moughal but then he caught Jack’s eye and smirked, “But beautiful.” He sat down in his chair still staring at the SG-1 leader. “A RARE prize,” he added.

“Four hundred,” Moughal insisted.  
“I may even make her a wife,” Turghan taunted.

Jack shook his head. “For crying out loud, five hundred,” he said irritated. Moughal looked at him stunned. “We’ll pay you back,” Jack assured the man.

“Why this one?” Turghan asked.

He looked back at Jack. “Why this woman? I have others, younger, fit to bear many sons, enough to start your own tribe,” he said this mainly to Jack. 

“She’s part of my group,” Jack replied.  
“She isn’t yours then?” he asked, “You walk like a leader, you travel with a woman by your side but you have no claim on her?”  
“We don’t claim women and she is one of my team members,” Jack replied.

Turghan looked at Jack with a glare. “She is a woman of power for our people,” Daniel threw in. Turghan lost his interest in the Colonel and looked over at Daniel. “Not only a warrior, but a shaman. She knows the spirits of our lands. They tell her when to plant grain, when water’s going to be scarce,” Daniel explained.

“Do you take me for a fool?” Turghan demanded.  
“He speaks truly,” Moughal answered.

Turghan sneered. “In the land of Ogada, the women are as ours were, long ago,” Moughal added.

“That and more,” Daniel put in, “Carter is our chieftain, our people need her.”

Turghan’s sneer turned int a snarl. “Get out,” he ordered, “You have nothing I want.” Jack rolled his eyes.

“Oh yeah?” he asked, reaching for his pistol.

He aimed it at one of his lamps and shot it down. Turghan sat up reaching for his knife, staring at Jack in utter disbelief. Jack held the gun up with a slight smirk. The tribal leader approached him and looked at the weapon in the Colonel’s hand. “Done,” he said to Jack. Jack handed him the pistol.

Sam saw them leave the tent. “Bring her a horse,” Turghan ordered as a horse was brought over for Sam to ride. With her being weaponless, Jack stood beside the animal and waited for Sam to get on before getting on his horse. He looked over as Turghan fired another round in the sky and him and his people celebrated. 

“Alright, there’s only five more rounds in that clip. Time to go,” Jack told the group.

They rode off into the trees and Sam could hear the pistol go off again. 

When Jack handed her back her uniform, she felt like she could give the man a kiss just for being so relieved that she could go back to wearing her regular clothes. She changed and sat with her team at the campfire. “I’ve never been so happy to see you guys,” she commented.

“Sure you have,” Jack answered, “Remember that time on P3X-595, you drank that stuff and it made you take off your---“

Sam cleared her throat. “We won’t get into that right now,” she answered quickly, making him smirk. She looked over at the Shavidi leader. “Moughal, I want to thank you for your help,” she told him. The man nodded, but his eyes were sad staring into the sky.

“We’ll leave at first light,” he informed them.

Sam could hear the sadness in his words. “Look, I don’t blame you for what Abu did. I don’t blame him either now,” she assured him. 

“He’s suffering the madness,” Moughal answered.

The Air Force Captain sat there confused and looked at the team to see if they knew what he was talking about. “It’s what they call ‘love’,” Daniel told her. Sam nodded her head slowly in understanding.

As they were laying down for the night, Sam stared up at the stars and let out a heavy sigh as she let her eyes slide close and she fell asleep.

That next day, Sam was back at her home with Jessie. The whole mission was exhausting from saving Nia to literally changing the laws to another tribe so women had as equal rights as their husbands. Sam was standing in her kitchen drinking her coffee when she heard whimpering come from the living room. 

Walking into the room she saw her daughter sitting in her playpen pouting. “Aw why are you sad, cutie?” she asked, lifting her up into her arms. She kissed her cheek tenderly and smiled as Jessie’s tiny hand kept touching her face. She picked up the giraffe from the playpen, shaking it so the little bell inside it jingled. Jessie immediately took the toy and tried to put its head in her mouth. “Are you hungry?” she asked, carrying her into the kitchen, kissing her temple, “Mama will get you something to eat.”


	3. Keeping Secrets

Two months later, Sam was in her lab going over a few of a few simulations for their next mission that was coming up in another week. Her computer beeped and she turned to her right to see that an email from Cheryl was sitting there. She opened the email and smiled to see a series of pictures of Jessie. 

Look who rolled over!

Sam scanned through the pictures and saw that Jessie was rolling over from her stomach to her back and then to her back to her stomach again. Her eyes shined with pride. “That’s my girl,” she said softly. She heard someone coming and quickly closed the computer.

“Carter,” Jack called, making her look up.  
“Colonel,” she answered, turning around in her seat.

Jack stopped and looked around. “How can you get anything done with it being so dark?” he commented.

“It’s easier to see through the microscope sometimes, sir,” she replied with a slight smirk.

Jack raised his brow. “Alright, come on, we have a mission,” he informed her.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, following him out of the room.

They gathered in the briefing room and General Hammond entered. “Five hours ago, the gate was activated and we had received SG-9’s activation code, but they never came through,” General Hammond informed them.

“So we’re looking at a rescue mission possibly,” Jack stated.  
“Possibly, I want you to go over there find out what is going on and bring them back here,” General Hammond instructed them.  
“Yes, sir,” Sam answered.

Sam got up to prep for the mission when Daniel walked over. “This isn’t going to be weird for you is it?” Daniel asked.

“Why? Because of Captain Hanson?” she asked.  
“Weren’t you two…” Daniel started to say.  
“We were engaged over a year ago, it hasn’t been weird so far,” Sam replied as they walked out of the room.

Sam made her way down the opposite hall to the women’s locker room to change.

An hour they walked through the Stargate, searching for SG-9. Sam looked around, the heat was stifling, but yet there was so much vegetation. There was one thing that she noticed that was kind of off. “Is there something wrong, Captain Carter?” Teal’C asked. Sam looked over at him confused.

“No birds,” she replied.

They made their way through the trees. She and Teal’C had gone their own direction, but she could still hear Daniel in the back. “There should be a road up here or something…” Daniel trailed off confused, looking around, “Jack? Guys?” Sam had turned around to go back just as she saw a man jump out of a pile of leaves, grab Daniel around his neck, and aim a gun right under his jaw. “Okay, okay, don’t shoot,” Daniel insisted.

Jack was right behind both of them with his gun right in the man’s neck. “That’s very sound advice,” Jack told him before pulling the gun out the attacker’s hand. The attacker looked at Jack and he sagged in relief.

“Colonel O’Neill,” he said surprised.

Jack stared and recognized the soldier. “Lieutenant Conner?” he answered. Lieutenant Conner immediately collapsed and both Jack and Daniel grabbed his arms and they pulled him away back towards the Stargate.

Sam had her pack ready. “Carter, give him some water,” Jack ordered as they set him down. 

“Yes, sir,” she replied, opening her pack.

Sam put a jacket behind him. “Here, lean back,” she instructed him.

“Alright, Conner, what’s going on? Command received your signal six hours ago but no one came through, why?” Jack asked.

Conner shook his head and she saw a look of disgust come across his face. “Hanson,” he muttered.

“Where is he? We need---“ Sam started to say.  
“No!” Conner answered, cutting her off, “Don’t.”  
“Why?” Jack asked.

Conner looked as though he were about to explain but his disgusted expression changed to fear and concern. “Frakes!” he exclaimed, getting up from his spot on the stairs. He ran off into the woods, both Jack and Sam were behind him.

They followed Conner to a pile of ash and bone. It was whatever was left of Lieutenant Thomas Frakes. Conner had knelt beside the pile and pulled out the man’s dogtags from the ash. “Conner, we need to know what happened here,” Jack told him.

“Permission to speak freely about a Superior Officer, sir?” Conner asked.

Jack contemplated the question, not quite sure if they were ready to hear what they had to say. “Yeah, go ahead,” he finally replied. Conner shook his head.

“He’s lost it. He’s out of control,” Conner stated.  
“Captain Hanson?” Sam asked.  
“Maybe it was the sun. Radiation…” Conner trailed off.  
“Wait, wait, are you saying the sun did that to Frakes?” Daniel asked.

Conner shook his head the disgusted expression returned to his face. “No sir. Captain Hanson did that to Frakes,” Conner replied.

Sam couldn’t help but be stunned or stop herself from exclaiming, “What?”

“For trying to get back through the gate,” Conner added, looking up at her.  
“I don’t buy that,” Jack answered.

Conner looked back at the Colonel. “Sir, we were trying to warn Command about what’s really going on,” he insisted. The people here, they think he’s their god,” he explained.

“Because you came through the Stargate,” Teal’C concluded.  
“No, no, you don’t get it,” Conner replied, “Hanson believes it too.”

Jack was still silent, mulling over what was being said before he looked over at Sam. “Carter,” she heard him call her name, making her look up. Making her way over, she and her CO both made their way a little further from the team so he could talk to her. Jack removed his sunglasses and ran his hand over his face. This situation had become a lot more complicated than they had expected. Jack glanced back over at Conner before looking back at her. “I want you to take Conner back through the Stargate. Report to General Hammond about what’s happening here,” he instructed her.

Sam immediately shook her head and her eyes were aimed at the ground. “No, sir,” she replied. She looked back up just to see his face drop.

“No, sir?” he repeated.  
“If you’re going after Hanson, I should go with you. I can get to him,” she answered.

She saw the slight irritation in his face at her statement. “Look. CAPTAIN. Either we’re bringing him back for a court-martial or not. We both know what the NOT means,” Jack told her.

“I know him, Colonel,” Sam insisted.  
“Yeah, that would be the problem,” Jack answered.  
“I gave back the ring because I know him. I know how he thinks, how he operates,” she insisted.  
“How he likes to play, God,” Jack pointed out.

Sam shook her head slowly. “Look, I don’t understand how that happened any more than you do. But if SG-1 is going after him, I’m going with you,” she answered stubbornly. Suddenly, Conner rushed over.

“Wait, wait, wait, you can’t do that. There are hundreds probably thousands of them. He’s their god,” Conner insisted, “They’ll die for him. They’ll kill for him in a heartbeat.”

Sam just couldn’t understand how this happened, but at the same time she just couldn’t be so surprised that he did go sideways like this. “That’s not your problem,” Jack told Conner, “Now I need someone to report back to the General and that is you.” Conner shook his head.

“No, sir,” he replied.

Jack looked stunned again. “No, sir? Does it say ‘Colonel’ anywhere on my uniform?” he demanded. Conner was shaking his head.

“I know the planet, the situation. I think it’s suicide but if you’re going, I’m going, sir,” Conner replied.  
“But you are not physically able,” Teal’C pointed out.  
“Frakes was my friend,” Conner replied.  
“This isn’t about revenge,” Sam insisted.  
“Maybe not for you,” Conner replied, looking at her, “We gotta move now in the daylight.”

Conner started walking head but then he looked back at them. Sam looked over at Jack to see that he was absolutely losing this argument. “Well, we’re off to see the Wizard,” he commented finally. They finally followed Conner down the trail and into the forest.

When they stopped for the night, Sam was lying awake in her tent. With the fire right outside, she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her picture of Jessie. She rolled onto her side and looked at the picture. Smiling softly, she traced her finger around her daughter’s face as though she was fast asleep next to her. Even in the toughest of situations like this, she found comfort that her little girl was back at home waiting for her return.

Suddenly, the camp was ambushed by the planet’s inhabitants. Same quickly stuffed her picture back in her pocket, searching for her gun. She found it quickly, getting out of the tent she saw one of the inhabitants run at her and she gunned him down. It wasn’t until Teal’C’s staff weapon had struck a tree did the attackers escape into the night. Sam looked around. “They took Conner,” she told Jack. Jack looked around for the soldier, but she was right, he was gone.

It was morning when they finally found the caves that Conner had been telling them about. Sam was getting anxious; she knew just yards away Hanson was in one of those caves. They saw Lieutenant Conner tied to a stake, left in the unforgiving sunlight. “Just stay here, I’m going to see what’s the best way to do this,” Jack informed them before he got up to sneak down the hill. Sam let out a breath and looked back at the people that were working on the temple that Hanson was working these people to death over.

It wasn’t long before Sam saw one of Hanson’s men starting to beat an inhabitant for falling with a rock. The man was utterly exhausted. Sam got up from the ground. “What are you doing?” Daniel asked.

“I’m going down there,” Sam replied.  
“Jack told us to wait for him,” Daniel told her.  
“That man will be dead before he comes back,” Sam replied before running down the hill.

Sam was able to walk right up and she struck the soldier in the face, sending him to the ground. “That was refreshing,” she commented as he looked up at her. She was surrounded and she allowed them to take her guns and they led her through the camp.

Reaching a cave, she saw Captain Hanson sitting in a throne like chair with three young women sitting around him and he removed his hood staring at her. “Captain Samantha Carter,” he said with a smirk, “I knew it would be a matter of time before you and your team would come here. Where is everyone else? Wait, you’re not going to tell me are you?” Sam was silent, staring at him.

“What happened to you, Jonas?” she demanded.

Captain Hanson waved his hands and the people left the two of them alone. “Please, sit down,” he told her. He was in control, everything he loved more than anything was control. She glanced behind her and sat down. Jonas started babbling about how the caves were mines and how he was there to save them.

“You think you’re saving these people?” she asked.  
“I KNOW I am,” he replied beaming with pride, “These people, they’re human beings they’re like US. How can we turn our backs on them? Kidnapped from Earth! Forced into slavery for centuries.”  
“We can’t change that,” Sam insisted.  
“YES WE CAN! We MUST help!” Jonas snapped at her.

Sam felt the anger and frustration begin to surface. “Well how does posing as a god and slowly working these people to death he---“ she started to say.

“I HATE that word! STOP using it! I’m. Not. POSING!” he snapped.

He was glaring at her now, but his glares never frightened her. When he realized he wasn’t frightening her, his face calmed down only a little. “It is the matter of definition,” he stated, “My people, NEED me, they believe in ME. And because they believe, they work.”

“To death,” she answered in disgust.

Jonas shook his head at her. “We’re building a civilization, Sam. There are going to be sacrifices,” he insisted. Sam felt the bile rise in the back of her throat to hear him speak so carelessly about the people he insisted he was helping. “It’s better than rotting in caves! Living and dying in squalor, live YOU’VE never seen! I’m creating a GREAT people,” he added.

“In your image,” Sam finished.  
“YES!” he answered excitedly, “It’s going to be WONDEROUS! You’ll see.”

Jonas stood up from his seat and had the three women leave. He crouched down by the cave drawings and pointed at them. “I wish I knew what these mean,” he commented to her.

“Why don’t you ask your people?” she asked sarcastically.

Jonas stood back up from the ground and shrugged his shoulders. “All-knowing,” he replied with a smirk. Sam stood up from her seat and made sure to keep the distance between them.

“You knew I would come didn’t you?” she asked.  
“How could you not? Healer of the emotionally wounded, I was your one failure,” he replied before filling a ladle of water and taking a sip of it.

Sam watched as he wastefully tossed the water to the ground. “So much of a failure that you have been hiding things to make sure I can’t find out anything about you,” he commented, “BUT a little birdie told me something recently.” Sam raised her head back in his direction.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

Jonas smirked, NOW he had her attention. “You have a six-month-old baby girl,” he replied, “Born in Washington DC on March 18th, 1997 at 0756.” Sam’s stomach twisted. 

“Those records are sealed how did you get them open?” she demanded.  
“So it is true,” he commented, “I thought maybe some doctor over there messed it up.”

He leaned back against the rock wall behind him, his eyes almost glaring at her. “You gave me the ring back on June 9th, 1996, that would’ve been nine months before she was born” he commented.

“She’s not yours,” Sam replied immediately.  
“Math doesn’t lie,” Jonas told her.  
“Math dictates her conception was on June 23rd, two weeks after I gave the ring back,” she replied.  
“Sammy, Sammy, Sammy, conception dates are never accurate,” he told her.  
“She’s not yours,” she repeated.  
“What’s her name?”  
“What does it matter?”

Jonas walked closer to her but Sam backed up. “Do you have a picture of her? Of course you do, what mother doesn’t carry around her baby’s picture,” he said sarcastically. Before Sam could argue back he had a gun aimed at her temple. “I wanna see her,” he said with a scowl. Closing her eyes, Sam let out a deep breath before she reached into her jacket pocket and held out the picture.

“How did you get my files open?” she demanded.  
“Black Ops training, Sam,” he replied before ripping the picture out of her hand.

He held it up in the torchlight to get a better look and Sam felt her stomach twist even more when she saw the smile on his face. “Look, she even has my eyes,” he commented.

“She has her father’s eyes but they’re not YOURS,” she replied.  
“Why isn’t my name on the birth certificate? Actually, why isn’t there any name on the birth certificate?” he asked.  
“That is a choice I made and for the fifth time she’s not yours,” she replied.  
“Stop. LYING,” he snapped at her.  
“I have a gun aimed at my head why would I lie?” she replied.  
“To keep her from me.”

Sam shook her head. “Even if she was yours you couldn’t even claim her. The minute you walk through that Stargate to try you would be hauled off for a court-martial. So again, why waste my breath in lying?” she asked. Jonas kept staring at the picture.

“I still say she has my eyes,” he replied, stuffing the picture in his pocket.

Sam was silent and Jonas smiled at her. “Now that we have that taken care of, you can help me,” he stated. Sam was silent, but now she had no choice. Her secret was literally in his pocket and she would do anything to make sure Jessie was kept that way.

Jonas showed her a machine of some sort that the Goa’uld had left behind when they left this planet. It was supposed to turn the sky orange and he wanted Sam to figure out how it worked. She pulled out her equipment from her pack and started to learn how to do it. As fascinated as she was about it, she hated that he was forcing her to do this. 

Suddenly, she heard someone enter and looked up. “Colonel,” she said surprised. One of Hanson’s men led Jack, dressed in a cave dweller’s clothing, and Conner in the room.

“We caught them trying to escape,” the soldier informed Hanson.  
“Captain, I see everything is working out just as we planned,” Jack commented to her.

Sam looked at the ground for a second but then Jonas walked by her and over to the colonel. Jack held up his tied arms and Jonas removed the activation signal device from his wrist. He walked away with the device in his hands. “Shoot them,” he ordered his men. Sam turned back to Jonas.

“No,” she insisted.

Jonas gave her a glare and Sam just reluctantly went back to the machine. “You’re going to turn that on in here?” Jack asked.

“Do it now,” Jonas ordered Sam.

Jonas looked rather bored at the situation at hand. “If it works, I will spare him,” he told Sam. Sam frowned and looked back at Jack. Jack nodded his head and waved his hands towards the machine awkwardly. Sam turned the machine on and watched as an orange light came out and filled the entire cave. Jonas looked amazed as he stood by it.

“It’s beautiful!” he said amazed.

He turned back towards his men. “Gather my people to the Stargate and bring the machine, I have promises to keep,” he ordered them. The men nodded and Jonas grabbed Sam’s arm, practically dragging her out of the cave.

Jonas made the people turn the Stargate on the ground, the stairs were made into some sort of plank. Both Jack and Conner were forced to their knees while Sam was forced to stay by the machine. He made his speech about how wonderful of a day this would be and they would bury the Stargate or the ‘Circle of the Gods’ to keep out demons that would threaten their world. “But first,” Jonas told the inhabitants, “I will send THOSE evil undoers who have already invaded our world back to the hell from which they came!” He gestured over to Jack and Conner as he spoke.

Jonas turned back to the DHD and dialed the gate back to Earth. “Fear not, for I, the Lord your God, control the gateway to the underworld,” Jonas assured them before opening the gate. Jonas made his way back over to Sam’s side, standing beside her. Sam gave him a glare.

“You said you wouldn’t kill them,” she insisted.  
“I’m not I’m sending them back to Earth,” he replied.

Sam’s frown deepened. “Without the signal to open the iris, they’ll die,” she reminded him. Jonas rolled his eyes.

“Please, Sam, I’m having a moment here,” he replied.

Sam felt sick as Jonas ordered for Jack and Conner to be pushed in. “Wait, stop!” Daniel called out and one of the inhabitants, dressed in Jack’s uniform was holding Teal’C’s staff weapon and he killed the last soldier that was following Jonas’s orders. Jonas reached into his pocket and pulled out his gun, aiming it at the inhabitant. Sam was fast and she did a jump front kick, kicking the gun out of his hand.

Jonas swung around and backhanded her with enough force that she landed on the stone ground with a grunt. Another staff weapon blast buzzed by Jonas’s head, making him stop. “Listen to me, whatever Jonas has shown you or done for you, he is not a god,” Daniel told the people.

“Don’t listen to him!” Jonas exclaimed, “They are demons! Agents of the devil! I have your savior!”  
“We’re NOT demons for crying out loud!” Jack called out to the people.

Daniel picked up Jonas’s discarded gun. “And this, this is not magical power! It is called a ‘gun’ and it is a machine,” Daniel told the people before he took the clip out. The people stared at Daniel in wonder as the clip fell to the ground.

“Do as I say or you will all die!” Jonas snapped.  
“Do as he says and you will die!” Jack answered.  
“Do not betray me! After all I’ve done for you! I promised you I would bring you out of the caves into the light! Today, I fulfill that promise! Behold!” Jonas called out.

He walked over to the machine and held his arms over it. “The power that belongs to your GOD!” he exclaimed, “I give you the sun! I give you the world!” He turned the machine on and the light aimed for the sky, but nothing was happening. The people were growing wrestles and Jonas rushed over to Sam, grabbing her arm. “Why isn’t it working?!” he snapped at her.

“I don’t know,” she replied.

Jonas dragged her over to it. “Fix it!” he spat.

“It’s a machine, I can make it work and so can you. Just like Jamala can fire that staff,” Daniel told the people, gesturing to the inhabitant that was holding Teal’C’s staff, “Now I’ll show you how there are two devices.”

Jonas grabbed Sam by the back of her jacket, pulling her up off the ground. “And both must be turned on for the shield to work! Watch,” Daniel insisted before nodding to Jamala. Jamala fired the weapon and Sam watched amazed when another orange light entered the sky and a shield covered the wood. She could feel an immediately temperature change just from the shield alone. The people were whispering amongst themselves. 

Suddenly, Jonas had a hold of Sam. “I’m taking you with me,” he told her, dragging her towards the Stargate. Before he could throw himself and her into the Stargate, she felt a force knock her off her feet and she landed on the stone plank seeing that Jack head leapt at Jonas, knocking him off her and Jonas went rolling into the inhabitants below.

Jack helped Sam up and they moved out of the way as the angry cave dwellers had picked up Jonas and threw him into the Stargate. She couldn’t help but frown even though she was relieved at the same time. Jonas was gone, but he took her secret with him.

When Sam got home two days later, she smiled brightly when she saw her little girl sitting on a blanket in Cheryl’s front yard and Timmy was playing with her. “Look, Jessie, it’s your mommy!” Timmy said excitedly, “Hi, Auntie Sam!”

“Hey,” Sam answered, “and hello to you.”

Sam picked Jessie up, kissing her cheek. “Mama missed you,” she cooed, holding her close. Cheryl got off the porch.

“Damn, Sam, you have quite the bruise on your face, what happened?” Cheryl asked.

Sam shrugged her shoulders. “I was using the gym there and I got kind of carried away,” she replied.

“I’d say so,” Cheryl commented.

Sam kissed her daughter’s cheek again and Jessie tapped her cheeks lightly staring at her.

The next day, Sam was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for Jessie’s named to be called. Jessie was in her lap playing happily with her toy giraffe. When it was their turn, Sam got up and they were escorted to a room.

When the doctor entered the room, he checked Jessie over. “She is in perfect health,” he commented, “And she’s hitting her milestones?”

“Yeah, she just started rolling over a week ago,” she replied.  
“Good,” he commented.

Sam was thinking how to word her next question. “Actually, I was wondering if you could run a paternity test?” she asked. The doctor looked at her curiously.

“Is the possible father here?” he asked.  
“Actually…he died, but I was able to get this,” she told the doctor reaching into her purse.

Sam pulled out some hair she got from Jonas’s brush from his quarters. “I mean; I know he’s not but…” she started to say.

“It never hurts to be sure,” he replied, taking the bag from her.

Sam nodded. “Well I’ll just need a little swab from you, little one,” the doctor told a gurgling Jessie. Sam held Jessie her lap and with a little bit of hesitation from Jessie’s side the doctor was able to get the sample he needed.

“How long before I can get the results back?” Sam asked.  
“I would say about two weeks’ tops,” he replied.

The Captain nodded her head in understanding. “Thank you,” she said with a sigh.

“You are welcome, I will be seeing you at your next checkup,” he stated.  
“We are looking forward to it,” Sam answered.

She gathered her things and Jessie’s, leaving the clinic.

Two weeks later, Sam got Jessie out of her carrier walking up the sidewalk to her house when she saw that the mail had arrived. She pulled the mail out with her free hand and saw there was a letter from the doctor’s office. She unlocked the door and got herself and Jessie inside.

Putting her daughter into her playpen, she put some toys around her before setting everything else down. She stared at the envelope nervously, letting out a deep breath. Deciding to just go for it, she ripped the envelope open and removed the letter. She read through the paper quickly, but she visibly relaxed. “Not consistent,” she read out loud. She felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders that she didn’t even know was there.

Setting the paper aside, Sam walked back over to the playpen and lifted Jessie up. Jessie shrieked with happiness and kicked her little legs about as she was held above her mother’s head. Sam pulled her down a little closer and her smile brightened a little more. “You have your daddy’s eyes,” she cooed.

Jessie let out a gurgle and Sam kissed her little nose. “Yes you do,” she added, “And I think it’s time for lunch.” Carrying Jessie on her hip, she walked into the kitchen to get them something to eat, the letter left forgotten on her end table.


	4. A Day with Mother

It was a beautiful day in Colorado Springs and Sam was grateful for the day off she had. She was pushing Jessie in her stroller through the park. Jessie was kicking her feet excitedly, enjoying the fresh air. “Do you want to go play on the swings?” Sam asked, picking her up. She walked over to one of the swings, sitting down she held onto Jessie with one hand to make sure she didn’t slide and started swinging gently back and forth.

Suddenly, she heard Jessie giggle. She lived for moments like this, absolutely loved them when she could spend these moments with her.

After a day in the park, Sam drove up to Cheryl and Greg’s house. Getting out of the car, she unbuckled Jessie from her car seat and the little one had her head resting on her mommy’s shoulder, just barely awake. Walking up to the front door, she knocked and Cheryl answered it. “Hey,” she said smiling. She saw that Jessie was fast asleep on Sam’s shoulder. “You can set her in her pack and play, I just set it up in the living room.

“Thanks,” Sam answered quietly.

Walking into the living room, Sam set Jessie into the playpen and the baby was fast asleep. “How did it go?” Cheryl asked.

“Oh you know, just mommy and baby time,” Sam replied as she walked into the kitchen.  
“Coffee?” Cheryl asked.  
“Please,” Sam replied.

Cheryl poured some coffee in a cup for her and Sam sat at the kitchen table. “Where’s Timmy and Greg?” she asked.

“Greg took Timmy out for some ‘father/son’ time. I’m okay with that, that kid has been like a tornado in this house lately,” Cheryl commented.

Sam smiled, taking a sip of her coffee. “How’s it been on the base?” Cheryl asked.

“Busy,” Sam replied, “But I love it.”

Cheryl smiled. “How come you and Greg never had more kids?” Sam asked.

“Oh you know, life is busy with a five-year-old,” Cheryl replied.

Cheryl leaned against her hand. “I would’ve loved to have more,” she said with a sigh. Sam frowned when she saw the small bruise on Cheryl’s wrist.

“What’s that?” Sam asked.

Cheryl looked at what her friend saw. “It’s nothing, just bumped it trying to get Timmy to stop throwing one of his tantrums,” she replied. 

“Boy, I’m not looking forward to those days with Jess,” Sam commented, glancing at the playpen.  
“It’s not all tantrums and crying,” Cheryl assured her.

Sam smiled and sat back in her seat. “How do you do it, Sam?” Cheryl asked.

“What?” Sam asked.  
“Single parenthood, full-time with the Air Force,” Cheryl replied.

The blond shrugged her shoulders a little. “Well I’m able to do it because you and Greg help so much,” she pointed out.

“I love having Jessie around,” Cheryl replied.

Sam reached over and patted her friend’s hand. 

The next day, this time Cheryl was at Sam’s house. Timmy was running around in Sam’s backyard and Cheryl was helping Sam with some shelves. “This damn screw,” Cheryl muttered. Sam just smirked. “What?” Cheryl asked.

“You have zero patience for building things,” Sam replied.  
“It’s not that I don’t have patience it’s just a pain in the ass!” Cheryl exclaimed.  
“Shh,” Sam hissed, gesturing to her napping child.  
“Sorry, but it’s so annoying,” Cheryl said with a sigh.

Sam shook her head with a slight smirk when she heard a knock on her door. Getting up, she went to see who was here. Looking through the peephole, she saw Daniel on the other side. Surprised, she opened the door. “Daniel?” she asked curiously.

“Hey, Sam,” Daniel answered.  
“Come in,” Sam invited him as she opened the door.

Daniel entered the house and looked around. “Nice place,” he commented.

“Thanks, I’m still trying to get everything set up to a little more…homie,” she answered.

Daniel stuffed his hands in his jacket pocket when he saw Cheryl. “Oh you have company,” he said awkwardly.

“No, you’re okay. Daniel, this is my friend, Cheryl Baker. Cheryl, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson, he works with me on the base,” Sam answered.

Cheryl stood up and the two shook hands. “The archeologist right?” she asked.

“Uh…yes,” Daniel replied.  
“You wrote the theories about the Pyramids of Giza, saying that the great Pharaohs didn’t build them?” Cheryl asked.  
“Sam told you about my work,” he commented.  
“Actually I read your work,” she replied.

Daniel was surprised. “Really?” He asked.

“Yeah,” she replied.  
“Cheryl is quite a fan of conspiracy theories and cover ups,” Sam commented.

Cheryl shrugged her shoulders. “You serve in the US military, you hear things,” she replied simply. Daniel laughed a little. “So what is an archeologist like you doing in a mountain base for Sam’s work?” Cheryl asked.

“I thought I would look more into space telemetry for a change,” he replied.

Cheryl just smirked. “Alright,” she said slowly, letting it slide. Daniel cleared his throat and looked at Sam.

“Actually, I had stopped by because I was checking to see if you had that book you were telling me about?” he asked.  
“Oh yeah, it’s upstairs,” she replied.  
“You keep archeology books in your house?” Cheryl asked Sam.  
“Just something I found for Daniel,” she replied.

She led him upstairs and Cheryl looked over at the playpen where Jessie slept.

They came back down a few minutes later and Daniel had the book in his hands. “Thanks, Sam,” he said to her.

“Yeah, no problem,” she replied.

Daniel waved at Cheryl. “Cheryl, nice to meet you,” he called to her

“Likewise,” she replied as she held Jessie to her chest.

Sam waved as Daniel left and closed the door. “He’s cute,” Cheryl commented.

“And married and so are you,” Sam answered.  
“I can still say he’s cute,” Cheryl commented.

Sam walked over and took Jessie into her arms. The baby opened her eyes, staring at her mother with a big smile. “Hey, sweetheart,” she cooed softly. Sam kissed her forehead and Jessie kicked her feet excitedly. Sam kissed her forehead again. “Think he suspected anything?” she asked.

“Probably not, he saw a married woman with two children,” Cheryl replied.

Sam smiled as she rubbed Jessie’s back. “What’s so wrong with your team knowing who she is?” Cheryl asked curiously.

“It’s not them,” Sam assured her, “I just want to keep her safe.”  
“From what?” Cheryl asked.

Sam gave Cheryl a look. “Ah, classified, got it,” Cheryl commented. 

“It’s just safer,” Sam insisted.

The next day, Sam was listening to the briefing for their next mission. Two days with Jessie never felt enough. “Carter,” Jack called, making her look up.

“Sorry, sir,” she answered.  
“Are you alright, Captain?” General Hammond asked.  
“Yes, sir, sorry, sir,” Sam assured him.

General Hammond showed them the video playback from the MALP. “Well that’s not bright at all,” Jack commented.

“Is that…sand?” Sam said in disbelief.   
“It looks to be, Captain,” he replied, “And in the endless sand the MALP sent back this.”

Daniel leaned forward when they couldn’t make out what this was. “Looks like crystals of some sort,” he commented.

“We would like you to retrieve one of these crystals and bring them back,” Hammond ordered.  
“Since when are we jewel miners, sir?” Jack asked.  
“Well it’s possible there are people who live here that could use these crystals for some purpose,” Daniel commented.  
“That’s what we would hope you will find out,” Hammond replied.

Jack rolled his eyes a little. This would be some mission. “You will be leaving in one hour,” Hammond informed the team.

“Yes, sir,” Jack answered.

Sam glanced over at the Colonel. “Why is it, Carter, it seems these missions get a little duller and duller?” he asked.

“Maybe then we can be dismissed early the sooner we leave the sooner we get back?” Sam suggested.  
“Now there’s an idea,” Jack commented.

They got out of their seats and went to prepare for the mission.

Going through the gate, Sam pulled on her sunglasses, nearly blinded by the bright yellow sand. “Teal’c, what do we have here?” Jack asked.

“I do not know,” Teal’c replied.

They stared down at the pit of crystals. “Wow…” Sam commented.

“Looks like it could be a civilization of some kind,” Daniel commented.  
“Let’s go take a look,” Jack answered.

They made their way down the sand dunes and Sam took out her camera to take pictures of the crystals. There was something peculiar about the crystals as she picked them up. “Crystals, they’re granite not volcanic,” she commented, but frowned, “I don’t see any that aren’t broken though.” She looked over as Daniel held up two pieces.

“These might fit together,” he commented.

He nearly slid down the hill when he saw a crystal. “There’s a whole one,” he commented, picking it up.

“They look like they’ve been blasted apart or something,” Sam stated as she walked over to Daniel.

Daniel examined the crystal. “It’s cracked,” he commented.

“I’m not seeing any other whole ones though, do you?” she asked.  
“Unfortunately,” Daniel replied as he dug the crystal up.

They went over to where Teal’c stood and looked around. “Where’s the colonel?” Daniel asked. Teal’c pointed to his left and they looked in that direction.

“Jack, we’ve finished our recon and we’re ready to head back through the Gate,” Daniel said into his walkie, “Is this…am I using this right?”

Sam smirked. “Of everything you have learned to do, you can’t figure out a walkie?” she quipped.

“I understand languages, not technology,” Daniel replied.

Sam walked down the hill a little. “We’re ready to head out, sir!” she called out.

“Colonel!” Daniel called out.

They saw him walk over a hill. “What took you so long?” Daniel asked.

“My walkie wasn’t working,” he replied neutrally as they walked back to the gate.

They walked through the gate, Sam walked by one of the soldiers as he ran a scanner over her. “Radiation check, all clear,” he assured her and Sam nodded.

“Welcome back, SG-1, debriefing will commence at 0900,” Hammond informed them.

Sam walked over to the gun cage and handed her weapons back to the corporal behind the gate. “Thank you, captain,” he said.

After the debriefing, Sam was relieved to hear that they were on stand down until their next mission. She made her way over to the locker room. If she had time maybe she could spend some time with Jessie before bedtime. Opening the door, she was surprised to see the Colonel still in there with a cigar box in his lap. 

“Oh, sorry, sir, I didn’t know you were in here,” she commented, “But no offense but this is going to become the women’s locker room in…well now. You know how I hate those sandy planets.”

Sam laughed awkwardly, but he didn’t respond, he just kept staring at the pictures in his hands. “Don’t hurry on my account,” she quipped. When he still didn’t respond, she couldn’t help but the curiosity welling up inside her and walked over. He was holding a picture of what looked like his family. “Nice,” she commented, “You have a son?”

“Yes,” he replied monotone.  
“I’m an auntie myself,” she commented, not noticing the difference, “A niece and a nephew.”

She turned back to her locker. “My brother moved them to San Diego so I don’t get to see them much which is sad but…” she started to say when she pulled out the picture of Jessie from her jacket. She bit her lower lip as she started thinking. “Actually, sir, if we’re being honest here…” she trailed off again when Jack left the room without a word. “Bye…” she said slowly. She put the picture back in her locker when Daniel walked in.

“Jack seems very focused,” Daniel commented.  
“Yeah, he was looking at some photos of family, he was in a hurry to get home. I didn’t know he and Sarah were together again,” she commented.

Daniel looked at her surprised. “You know about Sarah?” he asked. Sam’s eyes went a little wide.

“Uh, yeah don’t you?” she asked.  
“Well, yeah, but I didn’t realize…” he started to say.

Daniel shook his head. “I guess he trusts you more about those kind of things than I thought,” he commented.

“He is kind of the silent type isn’t he?” Sam asked as they left the locker room.  
“Jack doesn’t reveal anything unless he trusts you,” Daniel replied, “So the fact you know about Sarah and not Charlie is saying something.”

They entered the lab to examine the crystal they had brought back. “Why doesn’t he talk about his son?” Sam asked curiously.

“That’s a more difficult subject for Jack to talk about,” he replied, “His death is why him and Sarah separated.”

Sam felt her heart drop a little. “So…how did his son die?” she asked. Daniel let out a heavy sigh as he looked at the crystal.

“I’m not sure if it’s something I should tell you,” he replied, “Actually, I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it on the base somewhere, when I first met Jack it’s all anyone would talk about because of his actions on Abydos.”  
“What do you mean?” she asked.

Daniel let out a sigh and looked over at his friend. “Charlie had accidentally shot himself with Jack’s personal handgun,” he admitted. Sam’s face dropped.

“Oh my God…that’s horrible,” she said in disbelief.  
“Jack never forgave himself, he holed up and turned his back on the world for a long time,” Daniel explained. 

Sam looked at her work for a second. “I guess…I don’t know what I’d do…” she admitted quietly. 

Later, the Stargate was on and it was there was someone trying to dial in. “What’s going on?” Sam asked.

“It’s SG-1’s dialing code, sir,” Effie informed Hammond.  
“Open the iris…defense team keep your weapons raised,” Hammond ordered.

They opened the iris and suddenly, Jack jumped through it. “You guys left without me!” he called out. Jack look confused looking at all the soldiers holding their guns at him. “What’s with all the ordiance?” he asked.

“Who are you?” Hammond demanded.  
“What do you mean who am I?” Jack answered.

Jack took a step closer. “What’s going on here?” he asked.

“Good question, take him into custody,” Hammond ordered.

Sam watched as they grabbed a really confused Jack and pulled him out of the room.

They watched him on 19D’s security camera. “Come on, get me out of here,” he told them. They were still staring quite confused. “Alright,” he said as he pulled up a chair, “Let me put this nicely.” He climbed up the chair so he was right in the camera. “Get me the HELL out of here!” he snapped.

“If that isn’t O’Neill, I wanna know who we’re looking at,” Hammond commented.  
“We’re searching the facility now, sir,” one of the soldiers answered.

Jack grabbed a pillow off the bunk and chucked it at the camera.

Dr. Fraiser entered the room and started running tests with the team in the room. “His DNA matches the ones we have on file. Physical examination shows some trauma. Otherwise he seems perfectly healthy, sir,” she informed Hammond.

“Healthy doesn’t cut it,” Hammond replied.  
“Well the evidence says he’s Colonel Jack O’Neill,” she answered.  
“Thank you, doctor,” Jack told her.  
“Then how do you explain the other one?” Hammond asked.  
“What other one?” Jack asked.

They took Jack to the briefing room where Sam showed him the security footage of them leaving the gate. “Okay, so that’s not possible. I didn’t come back with you guys,” he told her. Sam brought the image closer and Jack leaned in “What the hell is that thing?” he asked in disbelief.

“The EM energy intact to the one crystal we brought back form P3X-562 may hold a key to this,” Sam said.  
“Explain,” Hammond told her.  
“The electromagnetic energy in the crystals has the ability to mimic things. It re-created Daniel and me, cloned us electronically, at least a part of us. It seemed to read our thoughts and speech and mimicked those too,” Sam explained, “Now what if the other O’Neill is energy just like the thing Daniel and I found in the crystal only more powerful and a more evolved form of it?”

Sam could see Jack for once was listening to one of her explanations and continued with, “One powerful enough to copy a whole person not just the faces.”

“Is that what we’re looking at?” Hammond asked.  
“Could be,” Sam replied.  
“And it tried to communicate with you?” Hammond asked.  
“It asked for our help,” Daniel replied.

Jack rubbed his forehead. Sam walked over to the crystal. “This may not work,” she warned them. She rested her hands on the table and leaned into the crystal. “Hello?” she called out gently. Suddenly, the crystal started to morph and Sam’s face appeared in the crystal itself.

“Hello,” the crystal repeated.  
“What are you?” Sam asked.  
“Energy. Unity. You would describe me thus,” the crystal replied.  
“You asked for help,” Sam reminded the crystal.  
“If I remain here, my energy will disintegrate. I must return,” the crystal replied.  
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Daniel asked.  
“Fear,” the crystal replied.  
“Fear of what?” Jack asked.  
“The Goa’uld came to our planet long ago. We were not afraid then and we tried to greet them. One of them touched us as you did and was destroyed by our energy,” the crystal explained.

Jack raised a brow. “That’s some welcome wagon you got there,” he commented. Hammond and Sam looked at him confused. “It almost killed me,” Jack reminded them.

“The Goa’ulds must have come through the gate exploring,” Daniel answered.   
“That’s why it was afraid we look just like them,” Sam concluded.  
“One of the Goa’ulds was killed?” Daniel asked.  
“They gathered all the unity in one place and ended it,” the crystal replied.  
“We confirmed Goa’uld weapons did it,” Sam pointed out.  
“Then that means that pit wasn’t a ceremonial place at all. It was some kind of mass grave,” Daniel answered.

The crystal gasped softly. “I can no longer sustain this form,” it told them before the face disappeared.

“What was that?” Jack asked confused.

Sam shrugged her shoulders. “Any ideas? Theories? Explanations? Anything?” Jack asked.

“If you thought your entire race was destroyed by the Goa’ulds as punishment for harming one of them what would you do if you thought that was happening again?” Daniel asked.

Jack had his head resting in his hands as he sat at the briefing table when a soldier entered the room. “Sir, O’Neill….the other guy is nowhere in the mountain,” he informed Hammond. Hammond nodded to the soldier who then left the room quickly. Sam rushed up the stairs.

“Okay, we’ve got a problem,” Sam announced to the group, “I ran some tests on the crystals in the lab. Whatever the energy that is inside the crystal is, it’s starting to decay. It’s ionizing particle radiation.”  
“Nuclear radiation?” Daniel asked, standing up from his chair.  
“It’s not constant, and the amounts are not dangerous, but if “O’Neill”---it---starts breaking down like the energy in the crystals and it’s more powerful than what we have here, then anyone nearby can get a lethal dose of radiation,” Sam explained.  
“If that’s true, we have a serious problem. Let’s hope it’s not,” Hammond answered.

Sam let out a deep breath. “Something else, I have been thinking about where it went,” she informed them. Her line of sight went back over to Jack. “Sir, it was in your locker looking through your personal stuff---pictures of your family,“ she explained. Jack immediately jumped out of his chair and rushed around the table to the nearest phone.

“Come on, Sarah. Come on,” he urged into the phone.

He slammed the phone down. “I gotta get there,” he told them. He started running down the stairs and Hammond gave the team a non-verbal permission to follow him.

“The lab’s running tests, but I’m sure it’s breaking down because Earth’s electromagnetic field is stronger than the one on P3X-562. The difference is tearing it apart,” Sam explained.  
“Can we stop it?” Daniel asked.  
“I don’t know,” Sam replied.

Hammond met them in the hall. “We checked with the local police no one’s at your wife’s house,” Hammond told Jack, “One of the local hospitals admitted a J. O’Neill less than an hour ago.” He handed Jack a sheet of paper which the Colonel snatched from him quickly. The General looked at the Jaffa with his staff weapon. “Teal’c, you have to leave that here,” Hammond told him.

“I have seen your world. I need it,” Teal’c replied.  
“Can’t let you take your weapon, son,” Hammond told him, taking the staff weapon from Teal’c.

He turned his attention back to the team. “You, all of you will be operating in public, so you can’t do or say anything that reveals the SGC or the Stargate,” he informed them. Hammond reached into his jacket and pulled out a baseball cap, giving it to Teal’c to cover his emblem.

“Chicago, the windy city, home of the Blackhwas, Bulls, and White Sox,” Teal’c recited.  
“Don’t forget the Cubs,” Jack answered as they got into the elevator.

Hammond nodded to his team. “Good luck,” he told them as the elevator doors closed.

Sam looked at her commanding officer. “For what it’s worth, sir, I am sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” she commented.

“Nothing to apologize for, Captain, you didn’t know,” he replied.  
“Still,” she insisted.

Jack was silent again, tapping his hand anxiously on the wall. “Come on, come on,” he urged the elevator to move faster.

Once the doors opened, they ran out to a waiting car to go to the hospital.

Arriving, they saw that the hospital was a madhouse with press, police, and awaiting ambulances to transfer patients out. “I think he’s here,” Daniel commented.

“You think?” Jack answered before getting out of the car.

Sam was right behind Jack as he ran through the emergency room doors. “Everybody out let’s go!” he called out. Sam was helping people evacuate when she saw Jack’s ex-wife standing there in disbelief. She kept looking back at a room that had electricity shooting out of it and then back at Jack. 

“Jack?” Sarah said confused.  
“Sarah,” he answered before holding onto her arms, “Are you alright?”

Sam was helping the staff evacuate when she saw Jack embracing a terribly confused Sarah. “It’s okay, this is me, this is me, baby,” he assured her comforting her. He let her go and held onto her shoulders. “Are you alright?” he asked. She nodded her head. “I want to hear all about it, but not now. You sure you’re okay?” he repeated. Sarah nodded again.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sarah replied, still obviously so confused about what was going on.

Sarah was holding onto Jack’s wrists as though he was her lifeline. Sam was helping them get the radiation gear out of the bag they had brought with them. “Which room?” Jack asked a nurse.

“Room three,” she replied.

Jack raced down the hall. “Colonel,” Daniel called out, tossing Jack a mask. Jack caught it and slipped it over his head. He and Teal’c raced down the hall towards Room 3 and Sam walked over to Sarah. 

“It’s okay, come with me,” Sam said gently.

She placed her hand on Sarah’s back and led the woman down the hall as Daniel escorted the nurse out o the hospital.

They nodded to the officer, who then had the power shut down to the hospital. There were soldiers waiting by a jeep and they started scanning Sarah. “She’s clear,” he assured Sam.

“Thank you,” Sam answered as she had Sarah sit down, “Can we get her a blanket?”

A soldier brought a blanket over to her and Sam wrapped it around her shoulders. “Sam, we have to go,” Daniel told her.

“Just wait here and the colonel will come find you,” Sam assured her.

Sarah nodded. “What’s happening?” she asked.

“Jack will be able to explain it in better terms than we can later,” Daniel replied.

He handed Sam a mask and they raced back into the hospital, pulling the masks over their heads.

Going back inside, Sam read the electromagnetic readings in the hospital. They found Jack and Teal’c and the Colonel’s copy. The copy was laying on the floor writhing and twisting in pain as electricity kept running down its body. “Colonel, it’s buried in red,” she informed Jack, showing him the readings. Jack looked back over at the copy on the floor. She held her walkie up. “How are we doing about the power?” she asked.

“We’ve turned as much off as we possibly can,” the officer replied.  
“They’ve shut down all they can,” Sam explained to the Colonel.

Jack moved a little closer to the copy, who sat up completely terrified. “It’s alright,” he assured it, removing his gun, “I’m not going to hurt you.” He set the gun on the floor to prove it.

“Please…stay back,” it gasped out.

Jack stared quizzically at the copy. “I do not want…to harm you again,” he added weakly. It lowered its arm weakly. “My…energy…is about to---“ before it could finish there was a large jolt of electricity that ran down its body. It threw everyone off their feet and crashing into the wall and the glass all around them shattered.

Sam, although in so much pain, got to her feet and grabbed her reader off the floor. “Radiation’s dropped off,” she informed them.

“O’Neill, are you alright?” Teal’c asked.  
“I’m okay,” Jack replied.

Suddenly, the lights turned back on. “What’s happening?” Sam asked into the walkie.

“We’ve got 20% emergency power,” the officer replied.  
“The radiation’s low enough, we should be alright,” Sam told the team.

Jack removed his mask and looked at his copy. “You have come to destroy me,” it said.

“No,” Jack replied, “That’s not true.”

Jack got up from the floor and got closer to it. “I know you weren’t trying to kill me back on the planet. The Goa’ulds, the people who destroyed your face, they’re our enemies too,” he explained to the copy.

“I understand…thank you,” it replied.  
“Why did you come here?” Jack asked.  
“When my energy hurt you…I tried to heal you…but I did not understand your injury. So I looked into your mind. I saw the mind of a warrior. I feared it…” it explained.

Sam got up and moved so she was near the Colonel, listening to what it had to say. “As I feared those who destroyed my race. I tried to make you well…before my mistake was discovered, before the others returned to destroy me,” it continued, “I understand now. Your deepest pain…was not the physical injury I had caused. Your pain…was from an empty place in your heart where Charlie once was. I thought if I could bring Charlie to you, it would make you well. I did not understand his death meant he could no longer exist as flesh and blood.” Sam lowered her eyes to the floor, hearing the words repeated to how much Charlie’s death affected her commanding officer made her feel sympathy for him. “Physical death does not have the same meaning to us,” it finished.

“Are you dying now?” Jack asked.

The copy nodded its head slowly. “Yes,” it replied. It looked sad as it continued, “I could not bring Charlie to you.”

“Charlie’s gone,” Jack confirmed.  
“No,” it replied, “He’s in here.”

It reached for Jack’s chest and they watched in disbelief as the energy turned from Jack to Charlie. “Charlie…” Jack said in disbelief.

“You cannot change what happened that day, just as I cannot change the day the Goa’ulds destroyed my world. I am showing you what of Charlie is still there, inside you,” it answered.

Jack was staring in disbelief. “Jack,” Daniel called to him. Daniel walked over to his friend and stood beside him. “Jack,” he called again. Sam pulled herself out of her own trance and looked at the machine in her hand.

“The radiation’s still low but I don’t know for how long,” she informed the team.  
“We have to go,” Jack told the energy.

They saw a small smile on its face. “Is Sarah O’Neill still here?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jack replied.

Jack stood up, holding the energy’s hand they left the room.

Sarah was standing by the entrance when Jack walked over to her. “Chopper’s inbound,” Sam informed him.

“You guys go ahead,” Jack answered.

Sam saw her face go white when she saw the copy in front of her. “Sarah,” Jack said gently, “It’s not Charlie.” She watched as Sarah hushed Jack a little and stared at the “boy” in front of her. The energy reached out its hand and rested it over Sarah’s. Sarah held his hand gently in hers as the tears were beginning to fall. “I have to get him back,” he told her.

“Through the Stargate?” she asked.  
“Yeah,” he replied.

Jack embraced Sarah with his free arm as she rested her head on his shoulder and let out a soft sob. “Whatever that is,” she added as he rubbed her back. “We were pretty great together, weren’t we?” she asked.

“We were the greatest,” he replied quietly.

Sam was waiting outside when Jack came out with the energy and stood beside her. “Ready?” she asked him.

“As I’ll ever be,” he replied as they climbed into the copper.

When Sam got home that night, she was exhausted in every way, but she held Jessie’s carrier. She set it down on the coffee table and unstrapped her daughter from it. She smiled as the baby barely made a sound as she lifted her up. She kissed her forehead tenderly, stroking her tiny hand. “Mama loves you so much,” Sam whispered to her daughter. Kicking off her shoes, Sam laid down on the couch with Jessie resting on her chest. Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back and sleep slowly came to her while her arms were wrapped protectively around her child.


	5. A Year Gone By

It was another busy day for the Captain, but as usual before her day on the base she was spending the morning with Jessie. The nine-month-old gurgled excitedly as Sam was pushing her in the swing. “One…two…three!” Sam counted, making her go high. Jessie shrieked with laughter, making her smile.

“You sure you won’t get in trouble for this?” Cheryl asked.  
“What? Spending time with my kid? I better not,” Sam replied.

Cheryl smiled. “She’s getting some pretty hair growing in,” she commented.

“I think so,” Sam agreed.

She picked Jessie up out of the swing and set Jessie down in the sandbox so she could sit by Cheryl. Jessie was babbling and digging her hands into the sand. “As long as she doesn’t try to stick it in her mou—“ Sam started to say when the baby did just that and Sam quickly pulled her hand away, “Yuck, yuck, Jess.” Jessie immediately agreed trying to spit the sand out.

“She’ll have some sand in her diaper later today,” Cheryl commented.

She handed Sam a bottle of apple juice which Sam gave to her daughter and Jessie started drinking it to get the yucky sand out of her mouth. “Hey, at least yours spit it out. Timmy kept eating it by the shovel,” Cheryl added. Sam just smirked. 

“You won’t try that again will you?” Sam quipped, kissing the top of her head.

Sam sat back with Cheryl again. “So, I am curious about something,” Cheryl commented.

“When are you not?” Sam asked.

Cheryl playfully shoved her. “Did you ever try to find her dad?” she asked. Sam shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s a big world, a lot of people with the same name,” Sam replied.  
“So….no….” Cheryl said slowly.  
“No,” Sam agreed.

Jessie stood up with her hands on the slide. “She’s going to be taking her first steps before you know it,” Cheryl commented.

“I hope not while I’m away hopefully,” Sam replied.

Jessie beamed as she looked at Sam. “Can you say ‘mama’?” Cheryl cooed to her goddaughter. Jessie just gurgled and started bouncing up and down. “Where is mama?” Cheryl asked her. Jessie looked at Sam and she shrieked. “Go get her, go get mama,” she encouraged her.

Jessie tried to stand up by herself but the sand was too soft and she ended up crawling to Sam. Sam picked her up and kissed her chubby cheek. Cheryl took her camera out of her purse and took a picture of the special moment. “You’ll hate me now but when she’s eighteen and out of the house you’ll love this,” Cheryl told her.

“I’ll take it,” Sam answered, rocking side to side.

Jessie was playing with the dog tags around Sam’s neck. “I do have to owe you one though,” Sam said suddenly.

“What? Why?” Cheryl asked.  
“Because if you hadn’t talked me into going out I wouldn’t have had this amazing opportunity,” Sam replied.

Cheryl just smirked. “I’ll take that credit then,” she commented. Sam shook her head slowly with a smile and Jessie was in the sand again putting another handful in her mouth. 

“Oh, Jessie!” Sam exclaimed.

Cheryl just laughed as Sam tried to wipe the sand out of her daughter’s mouth again. “Kids, gotta love them,” she commented.

Later, Sam was in the locker room changing into her uniform. Exiting the locker room, she saw Daniel standing outside. “Hey, Daniel, ready for our next mission?” she asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he replied.

Sam saw the expression on his face. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I just had another dream about Sha’re last night,” he replied.

Sam rested her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “It was so real,” he murmured.

“We’ll find her,” she reassured him.  
“I hope so,” he answered.

Daniel looked over at Sam. “When are you going to tell the rest of the team about the baby?” he asked. Sam stopped and froze, looking at him.

“What?” she asked.

Daniel pushed his glasses further up on his face. “Sam, you have pictures of you and a kid hanging up on the walls by your stairs. They’re not hard to miss,” he replied. Sam’s face fell and she let out a sigh, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. 

“I knew I couldn’t keep it away from you for long,” she replied.  
“Why keep it a secret?” Daniel asked.  
“Because I felt the less people knew the better,” Sam replied, “It’s not like being in the Air Force made it easy to be a single parent.”  
“So…her father’s not in her life,” Daniel concluded.  
“No,” she replied.

Sam let out a deep breath. “A year and a half ago, I met a guy at a bar. We got drunk, we slept together, six weeks later I found out I was pregnant,” she explained quickly.

“So you don’t know who the father is,” he answered.  
“I didn’t say that,” she said.  
“But you didn’t tell him.”  
“Daniel….”  
“Sorry.”

Sam let out a breath. “It’s complicated,” she told him. Daniel stared at her quizzically, but then the wheels started turning in his head and Sam saw it. “Daniel, don’t,” she insisted. Sam started to walk away, but Daniel went after her. 

“It’s Jack isn’t it?” he asked, running up to her.  
“Daniel…” she trailed off, trying to keep him quiet.

Finally, she grabbed his arm and yanked him into one of the empty quarters. “Can you say that a little louder I don’t think Senator Kinsey heard you,” she hissed. Daniel stared at her silently.

“But it is true?” he asked.

Sam let out a breath. “Yes,” she replied, glancing at the door as though someone would barge in at that second before repeating, “Yes.”

“Why haven’t you told him?” he asked.  
“Why do you think?” she answered.

Sam sat down on the bottom bunk. “It wasn’t like I don’t WANT him to know, but can you imagine the complications that could cause everyone? The team?” she asked. She shook her head slowly.

“And if Senator Kinsey found out…” he trailed off.  
“That would give him more than enough ammunition to end this project immediately,” she answered.  
“But Jack was retired when you met,” he commented.  
“Do you think he would care?” Sam asked.  
“No he would still see that a commanding officer and his subordinate were having some sort of illicit affair,” he replied.

Sam rubbed her hands together. “In which case it would be against regulations…” he added.

“Yes,” she replied.

Sam shook her head slowly. “Dammit, Daniel, of all days you had to figure this out when the Senator is here to grill us about why we should keep the program going?” she asked.

“It wasn’t my intention to figuring everything out,” Daniel replied, “But it explains a lot in the alternate reality I experienced.”

Sam stood up. “In that reality you and Jack were engaged to be married if you recall,” he commented, “And the Jack O’Neill in that reality was determined to send you to the Beta site.”

“Jessie…” Sam softly.

Sam looked over at him. “Was Jessie in that reality?” she asked.

“No, but the way it sounded, she may have already been sent to the Beta Site,” Daniel replied.  
“Of course she would be,” she commented.

She let out a deep breath. “If anything were to happen I’m sure if Jack knew about her, he would talk General Hammond into letting her get sent through the Gate for safety,” Daniel added.

“In this case though the Jack in this alternate reality was the General,” Sam commented, “Which means he had more pull.”  
“Don’t you think the Jack in this reality would do anything to keep her safe?” Daniel asked.  
“If he knew about her, yes,” Sam replied, “This has nothing to do with whether or not Jack can keep her safe, Daniel.”  
“No, but it makes sense to why the Jack O’Neill in that reality was doing whatever it took to make sure your alternate-self made it to the Beta site,” Daniel explained.  
“It didn’t work, Daniel, she died,” she answered.  
“She died making sure I could come back here and make it so that reality didn’t happen here,” he insisted.

Sam was silent and closed her eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. “I think Jack should know, I think he’d make sure that no one else would find out,” he commented. She closed her eyes.

“We have a briefing,” she answered, leaving the room.  
“Right…meeting…” Daniel said slowly.

Sam was sitting at the table going over each mission with Senator Kinsey. The man as less than impressed with their work and what they had discovered. They had just finished explaining the fact Apophis had actually killed them once, but were revived by the Knox, the Senator basically scoffed at their words. “Senator, if Goa’uld technology can generate an energy shield protect around individuals they can do the same thing with WHOLE armies,” she insisted.

“And ships,” Daniel put in.  
“And have you ever seen one of these….ships?” Kinsey asked, basically mocking them.

Jack just stared at the man with a stone, cold look. “Yes, sir,” he replied, “During my first mission through the gate on Abydos. It landed on the pyramid we were hiding inside and the ship completely incased that pyramid.”

“And not only do they have the large ships that can incase a pyramid, they have gliders as well,” Sam put in.  
“You escaped some of those gliders, Colonel, ON FOOT I might add,” Kinsey answered.  
“Just one of these Goa’uld ships was responsible for the deaths of SG-7 and the ENTIRE local population,” Daniel insisted, “Now that’s over 1,000 people.”

Kinsey sighed, annoyed at Daniel’s words. “The point is, sir, we have seen how the Goa’uld have destroyed entire civilizations,” Sam put in.

“I’d call that a threat,” Jack stated.  
“Admittedly these Goa’uld are a dangerous race,” Kinsey answered.

Teal’c leaned forward in his seat a little more. “More dangerous than you can possibly know,” he stated. Kinsey let out an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes.

“Well, if they’re so strong why did you switch sides in the first place?” Kinsey demanded as he walked over to the window, glaring at the Gate.  
“Because what is right cannot be measured by strength. Your world values freedom. I wish the same freedom for my people,” Teal’c answered.

Kinsey looked back at Teal’c. “Well I don’t want to appear callous, sir, but I believe that’s YOUR problem,” he stated. Teal’c slowly turned in his chair and stood up, walking over to the Senator with a glare.

“It will be soon yours as well, Senator Kinsey. For the Goa’uld are as powerful as they are evil. The Goa’uld have enslaved a GALAXY of worlds,” Teal’c snapped.

Senator Kinsey held his hand up to stop him. “I don’t CARE about other worlds. I must place the citizens of this country FIRST,” he snapped, pointing to the American flag pin on the lapel of his jacket.

“Then you would be wise to heed our warning, Senator Kinsey. For when the Goa’uld finally do come in force, and they will, your citizens as the strongest, most powerful country of this world will be among the FIRST to die!” Teal’c snapped.

Senator Kinsey sat back down in his seat and had Samuels continue with his investigation. Everything they had done from the death of Major Kowalski to the diseases they accidentally brought back was being used against them. “If you shut down this program now, when it’s needed the most---“ Jack started to say.

“For what?” Kinsey scoffed.  
“To gather technology, weapons,” Sam insisted.  
“Not at this price or this level of competence,” Kinsey answered.  
“My people are the best out there, Senator,” Hammond insisted.

Kinsey stood up in his chair, his hands resting on his table. “I’m sorry, General, but your best is not good enough!” he snapped, “I do not approve of nor support this endeavor. And I have heard nothing today that would change my mind!” Sam looked over at Jack, but his face was like stone, erasing all emotion. “I intend to shut the Stargate down,” he told the group. Daniel jumped out of his chair when Kinsey went to leave.

“You want your one reason?” Daniel asked, “I’ll give it to you.”  
“Daniel, don’t,” Jack answered.  
“What if I told you I knew they were coming in ships?” Daniel asked, “What if I told you a ship larger than the great pyramids was gonna land on top of this mountain in a matter of weeks, or even days?”  
“Then I would be curious to know why you waited till this moment ot say this?” Kinsey asked.  
“Because I didn’t think anyone would believe me,” Daniel replied.

Sam looked at her friend and then sat back in her seat a little more. “And if I didn’t live through it myself, I wouldn’t, but it’s fact. If you shut us down, you’ll have robbed us of our one chance to stop them before they get here,” Daniel explained. 

“Where did you learn this information?” Kinsey asked.  
“On our last mission. We came across a civilization with a level of technology similar to ours. They had been wiped up, but they had left behind a warning. “Beware the Destroyers”. Now along that warning came a set of numbers. Coordinates that indicate where the Goa’uld attack will be launched from,” Daniel explained.

Kinsey looked at the rest of the team. “And did all of you witness this warning?” he asked. He was laughing as he spoke. Sam lowered her head and she suddenly felt a hand reach across the table and looked over to see Jack’s hand resting on her arm.

“No they didn’t, it was just me,” Daniel insisted.

Sam let out a breath as she lifted her head. “Sir,” she said slowly as she stood up from her seat, “We think Daniel may have experienced an interdimensional transfer to an alternate reality.” Kinsey looked amused by her statement.

“I beg your pardon?” he asked.  
“The moment I touched an artifact on 233 I was separated from the team, I was actually transported to an alternate reality where the Earth was already under a Goa’uld attack. I got this when I was there,” Daniel replied, holding up the crumpled up piece of paper.

Kinsey let out a sigh of frustration. “My heaven. I have heard enough of this,” he muttered.

“Senator, the Goa’uld were bombarding our cities from space! We were defenseless against their weapons!” Daniel insisted.  
“Dr. Jackson, I don’t suffer fools gladly!” Kinsey snapped.  
“Nor do I, Senator, and I’m telling you when we killed Ra two years ago…we set into motion a chain of events that will eventually lead to an all-out attack on Earth by the Goa’ulds!” Daniel snapped.  
“If this is so why have they waited?!” Kinsey exclaimed.  
“It would take time for Apophis to assemble the necessary forces,” Teal’c replied.  
“Right,” Daniel agreed.

Kinsey went to walk away again. “Their society is feudal it would take time to build an army,” Daniel insisted, “All I know is the location where they are going to launch the final attack from. If you don’t believe me let me dial the coordinates and let us go there and find out!”

“How many ships, Dr. Jackson?” Kinsey asked.

He walked closer to Daniel. “Has anyone detected their approach?” he demanded.

“I don’t know the exact details there were differences between that reality and this one,” Daniel replied.  
“Oh of course,” Kinsey said rolling his eyes.  
“I’m not crazy!” Daniel insisted.  
“Nor am I, Dr. Jackson!” Kinsey snapped, “Neither am I unused to 11th hour pleas, though never have I heard one so DESPERATE as this.”  
“Senator, they are coming,” Daniel answered.

Kinsey threw his hands up. “Then I say, let them come!” he exclaimed.

“Where do you get this bureaucratic bull?!” Jack exclaimed, standing up this time. 

Jack stared at the man. “You’re talking suicide!” he added.

“Colonel O’Neill you underestimate this GREAT nation,” Kinsey answered.  
“It is you who underestimates the enemy! We have challenged Apophis. He will not rest until this world worship him as a god,” Teal’c stated.

Kinsey walked closer to the Jaffa. “There is only ONE God, Sir!” he snarled, “And I do not believe one moment that He would allow what you’re trying to tell me to come to pass.” Sam was in disbelief at what she had just heard come flying out of this man’s mouth. “We are all one Nation UNDER GOD!” he snapped. Neither did Jack as he walked over to the man now.

“And you think God is gonna come save us?” Jack asked.  
“The Goa’ulds believe they are gods. And your beliefs will not dissuade them,” Teal’c stated angrily.  
“If the Goa’uld do come we will be able to tell them we have buried our Gate in the ground forever and won’t step through it ever again! If they challenge us we will prevail,” Kinsey answered just as angrily.  
“You’re a fool,” Daniel answered.  
“And if they do not come, which I think is infinitely more likely, then at least Pandora’s Box will have finally been closed once and for all!” he told Daniel.

Kinsey looked towards Jack. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I have business to attend to,” he informed him before leaving the room. Samuels looked at the SG team and General Hammond.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry it had to end like this,” he told them.

General Hammond stood up in his chair. “Get out of here!” he snapped at the man. Sam let out a breath after seeing such a heated exchange and seeing they couldn’t convince the Senator, she had no idea what would happen now. She could vaguely hear Teal’c ask if he could return to Chulak before the Stargate was sealed. 

“Then I’m going with him,” Jack answered.  
“I can’t allow that, Colonel, you know I can’t,” Hammond told him.  
“What about the other SG teams?” Sam asked.  
“We’ll keep the light on until they return that’s all I’m authorized to do,” Hammond replied before he solemnly entered his office, closing the door behind him.

Sam stared at the Stargate and all she could think about was what Daniel had been insisting on and the evidence she had seen. If Daniel was right, then Earth was in danger. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she recognized it immediately. “You okay?” Jack asked her.

“No, I’m not,” she replied, “None of this is okay.”

Jack shook his head slowly. “It’s not,” he agreed. Sam let out a deep breath before she left the briefing room to change out of her blues.

Later, they were all sitting in the briefing room going over their options. “Hammond’s given up, they’re going to bury the Gate the day after tomorrow,” Jack informed them. Sam let out a breath, crossing her arms over her middle.

“Then I must return through the Stargate as soon as possible,” Teal’c replied.  
“Yes we should ALL go through the Gate as soon as possible,” Daniel stated.  
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, all go through? To where?” Sam asked.  
“To the coordinates I got in the other reality,” Daniel replied.  
“Daniel, dammit!” Jack exclaimed.

Daniel gave Jack a look. “Jack! It was real,” he snapped back at him.

“Okay, even if it was, how do we know this address correlates to this reality?” Sam asked.  
“There’s only one way to find out,” Daniel replied.  
“We should enter the coordinates and attempt to open the Gate,” Teal’c informed the group.

Daniel nodded his head in agreement and the room was silent for a few seconds. “Okay, hold on,” Sam said, rubbing her forehead, “Has anyone considered that we would be in gross violation of orders?” She looked over at Jack. “Sir, we would be court-martialed the second we come back,” she pointed out.

“If,” Jack corrected her as he sat down, “If we got back.”

Sam bit her lip, even that was an option. “Jack, if we don’t go through, what I saw in the other reality could happen here. This whole planet would be wiped out!” Daniel insisted. They room was silent again as they were all trying to figure out if they would go through with this. “In the other reality by the time I left, Sarah was dead. Sam, your whole family was dead, I was dead, everyone was dead!” Daniel insisted.

“Okay, I got it!” Jack snapped at him.  
“Okay, then don’t you think we should see if we can stop the same slaughter from happening here?” Daniel asked, “Let me ask you something, Jack. If we don’t go through now and the Goa’uld do attack later how are you gonna feel?”

Jack stood up again and was staring out the window at the Stargate. “How are just the four of us gonna stop the attack anyway even if we do go through?” Sam demanded.

“Well we’d have a lot better chance now than we would trying to stop an overwhelming onslaught later,” Daniel replied.

Daniel looked over at Sam. “Trust me, I have seen it,” he insisted.

“If the coordinates are for a Goa’uld world which is not on the Abydos cartouche, the Goa’uld will most likely not expect us,” Teal’c agreed, “I believe a medical attack could be successful.”  
“Surgical attack, Teal’c, it’s called a “surgical attack” and I’d feel like an idiot,” Jack replied.

Sam looked up at him. “Sir?” she asked.

“I’m answering Daniel’s question. If we don’t do something now and they do attack later I’m going to feel like an idiot,” he told Daniel.

Sam was thinking over what would happen and she dragged her bottom teeth over her upper lip. “We go,” Jack told the group. Teal’c stood up from his chair.

“I too, will go,” he told Daniel and Jack.

Jack looked over at Sam. “Carter, it’s not an order,” he assured her. She nodded her head slowly, all she could think of was if they were successful then the world would be safe and so would her baby girl.

“I understand that, Colonel, thank you. I’m going,” she replied.

They dressed in Black Ops uniforms and Sam was at the computer putting in the code. The Stargate was opened. “Unauthorized Stargate Activation,” the PA announced as the alarms blared.

“Carter, close the blast doors in corridors Alpha and Charlie,” he told her.

He pointed at the map. “Disable them,” he added.

“I need an authorized officer’s security code to disable them,” she replied.

Jack immediately put his code into the computer. “There you go,” he informed her. Sam did just as she was told, closing the doors and disabling them. They sent a MALP through, but where the gate was, it was all in dark. Sam switched it to infrared.

“Security breach!” the PA called out.  
“They just got corridor C-9 open,” Daniel commented.  
“Alright, let’s go,” Jack answered as they ran out of the control room.

They ran up the ramp and through the Gate before the General and his team could intercept them the Stargate closing behind them.


	6. The Victories

Sam was in disbelief as they were staring out at their galaxy as they had entered it. They were going to be entering Earth’s atmosphere sooner than they thought they would. “Captain Carter, were you able to put enough C4 around this place to make a dent?” Jack asked.

“We placed charges where they should generate secondary explosions so…yes, sir, should make a hell of a dent,” she replied.  
“Thank you, Captain,” Jack said to her.  
“Given enough time I can figure out…” she started to suggest.  
“Negative, we should expect some of their reinforcements through that door any second. Standby to detonate your charges on my order,” Jack replied.

Sam reached into her vest, removing her detonator. “Yes, sir,” she replied. Daniel started searching in his vest.

“Wait…” he said slowly.  
“Daniel, if we don’t stop them now we may never stop them,” Jack told him.  
“Yeah, I know that,” Daniel answered.

He removed his pack of C4 and put it underneath the power console to the ship. “Let’s just make as big a dent as possible,” he insisted. Sam let out a deep breath as she prepared the detonator, her heart was racing in her chest as she looked at Earth as they were getting closer to it. This was as close to Jessie as she was going to get. 

“Ready and awaiting your orders, sir,” she informed him.

Sam looked over at Jack. “Well, I guess now is the time for me to say something profound,” he commented. There was silence in the room. “Nothing comes to mind let’s do it,” he finished, nodding to Sam. 

As she was preparing to set everything off, her heart thumped in her chest as the adrenaline was racing through her system. As she prepared to set off the C4, her mind drifted back to the last time she held her little girl in her arms. She kept that image in her mind, her daughter’s beaming smile as she sat in her lap that morning reaching for Sam’s toast as she was trying to eat. “O’Neill, Apophis’s ship approaches,” Teal’C informed them. Sam looked up through the window and there was a second ship right in front of them.

The next thing Sam knew, Klorel’s people had sent in some sort of grenade and her world went completely black. When she woke up, everything was dark but she could hear shuffling around. She kept her eyes closed, there was no way these Goa’uld were going to take her without a fight. She felt someone grab her shoulder and immediately she grabbed their wrist and bit down on their hand. She heard a familiar voice shout in pain.

Sitting up, she had her eyes open but she still couldn’t see anything. “Colonel?!” she called out, “I’m sorry, sir, it’s just so dark.” She could hear him shuffling and moving around.

“Carter…it’s alright, I like your attitude,” he replied.  
“It isn’t dark we’re blind and we failed,” she heard Daniel say from the corner.  
“Alright, take it easy, Daniel. We have been in worse situations than this,” Jack answered.  
“Not to my knowledge,” Teal’C objected.  
“Thanks, Teal’C,” Jack said sarcastically.

Sam kept blinking her eyes, hoping that every time she opened them her sight would be back, but all she saw was the darkness. She could hear Daniel talk about how he had seen this already and he didn’t want to experience it again. “Daniel, will you relax! You’ve been through it before and you survived. We’re…just having a bad day,” Jack insisted. She couldn’t help but smirk a little, but her heart sank at the idea that the Goa’uld would be attacking Earth and she wasn’t anywhere near Jessie to protect her. She pushed herself back against the wall and pressed her hand to her throbbing forehead. “You alright, Carter?” Jack asked.

“I’ll be fine, sir,” she assured him.

Opening her eyes, she saw that everything was in a blur, but she was staring to see. “Colonel, I think I’m starting to see something,” she informed him.

“My sight returns as well,” Teal’C answered.  
“Well that’s what I wanna hear,” Jack stated, “Carter, if someone comes in here you bite them in the hand.”

Sam chuckled lightly. “Yes, sir,” she replied.

They were reunited with Bra’tac and other members of the Jaffa who were on their side. With whatever weapons they had, they were able to successfully defeat Apophis and Klorel, saving Earth from the fate that Daniel had described.

When they were brought back to the SGC, the base warmly welcomed them home. Daniel, who had been severely injured during the fight on Klorel’s ship had pushed his way through the crowd and into their direction. “Daniel…” she said smiling. Jack walked over and embraced their friend. She could hear him call him a ‘Space Monkey’ before releasing him. Walking over, she hugged Daniel tightly. “It’s good to see that you made it,” she murmured.

“Same,” he replied.

Releasing him, Sam smiled and the other SG teams greeted them.

When Sam arrived home that night after a very long debriefing, it was way past Jessie’s bedtime. She got out of her car, her bag over her shoulder as she walked up to the front door. She unlocked it and entered.

Looking around, she saw Cheryl sitting in her chair watching television. “Have you seen this?” Cheryl asked, not looking away from the television.

“Hi to you too,” Sam quipped.

Cheryl just smirked at her friend. “What’s going on?” Sam asked.

“There was a bright fiery light seen from space today,” Cheryl answered.  
“Oh, yeah, we saw that on the satellites. We think it was two meteors colliding,” Sam explained, her hands crossed over her chest.  
“That had to be quite the sight,” Cheryl commented.

Sam nodded her head slowly. “It was,” she agreed. She cleared her throat. “Is Jessie asleep?” she asked.

“Fast asleep,” Cheryl replied.

Nodding, the Captain made her way over to the stairs and made her way up while Cheryl watched her with a smile.

Making her way down the hall, Sam pushed the door to the nursery open and found her daughter was in fact fast asleep in her crib. Reaching in, she carefully lifted her up into her arms. “Mama missed you,” she whispered, holding her to her chest. Sam swayed back and forth, holding the baby to her chest. “I thought I would never see you again,” she murmured. She rested her forehead against hers and held her tiny hand between her thumb and index finger. “I’m here, baby,” she whispered, “And I will always be here.” Sam sat down in the rocking chair and smiled at her sleeping daughter. 

Now that her mind was beginning to settle down from the mission, her mind drifted back to her conversation with Daniel. Daniel knew the truth, she knew he wouldn’t tell anyone else, but she couldn’t help but wonder if this was something she could hang onto forever, or if this whole thing would somehow blow up in her face. She shook her head slowly. She didn’t want to think about that, she couldn’t, not at that moment or she would drive herself crazy. She was doing what was best for her daughter, this was safer unless someone told her otherwise.


	7. 2 Years Ago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night baby Jessie came to be.

Laying on her couch in her living room was Captain Samantha Carter, staring up at her ceiling. She didn’t have any sort of inspiration to do any of her work, but after she just had another intense fight with Jonas the last thing she wanted to do was do any work. This was unlike her since when didn’t she want to work? Letting out a groan, she got off her couch when her phone rang. “Hello?” she asked.

“Hey, Sam, where are you?” Cheryl asked on the other end.  
“I am at home doing nothing, why?” Sam asked.  
“Doing NOTHING?! Come on, you’re a single woman now! We are celebrating,” Cheryl answered.  
“And why are we celebrating the desolation of my engagement?” Sam asked.  
“Because Jonas was a controlling asshole,” Cheryl replied.

Sam laughed a little. “Come on please?” Cheryl begged, “Greg is going to be watching Timmy tonight.” The Air Force Captain could hear the near desperation in her voice. Sighing, she shook her head slowly.

“Fine, give me about thirty minutes,” Sam replied.

Suddenly there was banging on her apartment door. Getting off the couch she looked through the peephole and saw Cheryl on the other side. Opening the door, Cheryl just beamed. “And I will get you ready in twenty,” Cheryl replied. Sam shook her head and Cheryl grabbed her arm, pulling her inside to get her ready.

Soon, Sam was dressed in a pair of nice black heels, a navy high waist skirt, and a pale blue button down shirt tucked into the waist. “I wish you had something more than just a skirt,” Cheryl commented.

“I haven’t exactly done a lot of dress shopping since work,” Sam answered.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “You look hot though, that high waist shows off the curves,” she added, “You will be turning heads tonight.”

“I am not interested in turning any heads,” Sam answered.  
“Stop being a party pooper and let me have fun?” Cheryl insisted.

Sam shook her head slowly. “You owe me one,” she answered.

“After tonight you’ll owe ME,” Cheryl insisted.

Rolling her eyes, Sam couldn’t help but laugh a little and shake her head. “We’ll see about that,” she answered. The two women left the apartment.

Entering a bar, Sam looked around and let out a sigh. Honestly, since she was with Jonas she hadn’t been out much. Jonas wasn’t much for “socializing” so most of their days were spent in his apartment watching World War II dramas or something. Sam walked up to the bar and took a seat. “What can I get you?” the bartender asked.

“How about a Jack and Coke?” she asked.

The bartender nodded and Cheryl ordered a red wine. “That’s quite some liquor you ordered yourself,” a voice said next to her, making Sam look over.

“I’m not much of a wine drinker,” she replied.

The man smirked a little. “I’m not much one either,” he agreed. The bartender placed Sam’s drink in front of her and the stranger tilted his glass up. “Cheers,” he told her before downing the rest of his beer and set it on the counter. He gestured to the bartender for another one. He sat back and tilted his baseball cap up, looking over at Sam. He had light brown hair and matching brown eyes. Sam could see he had on a pair of sneakers, blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red plaid shirt. “Also, bartender, these ladies’ drinks are on me,” he informed the man.

“That’s not necessary,” Sam insisted.  
“Humor me, it’s been a rough week,” the man answered.

The bartender placed another beer in front of him. “Actually, make it a rough six months,” he added.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she answered.

Cheryl looked over at Sam with a confused expression. Out of the guys in this place Sam was striking up a conversation with a guy who looked like someone just ran over his dog. He reached around his hand and Sam saw him pull a ring off his finger. “Welp, this is useless now,” he commented. He threw it towards a nearby trashcan and it bounced off the rim. “Damn,” he muttered. Sam took a gulp of her drink. “Why are two ladies like you doing in a place like this?” he asked.

“Do you think you could figure out another pickup line?” she asked.  
“Sorry, I think it’s been like almost…twelve…thirteen years since I tried to flirt with a woman,” he replied.

Sam just smirked a little. “And I was bad at it then too,” he added. He reached his hand over. “Jack,” he told her. Sam shook his hand.

“Sam,” she answered.

She gestured to Cheryl. “And this is Cheryl,” she added. Jack shook her hand. 

“So you ladies from around here?” he asked.  
“Yeah we’re both stationed here,” Sam replied.  
“Stationed, then you’re military. What branch?” he asked.  
“Air Force,” she replied.

Jack nodded his head slowly. “So was I,” he replied.

“Was?” she asked.  
“I retired as of today,” he replied.  
“I would say congratulations but it looks like we’re not really thrilled?” Cheryl asked.

Jack chuckled a little. “Cheryl, there’s not much to congratulate me about,” he replied. Sam frowned a little.

“Things can’t be that bad,” she insisted.  
“Oh trust me, they are,” he replied before taking a gulp of his beer.

Sam took a long drink from her cup. “What was supposed to just be a trial separation turned into a divorce as of 0900 this morning, so where’s my party?” he asked. 

“I’m really sorry,” she answered.

He shrugged his shoulders a bit. “Nothing to feel sorry for, I’ll live,” he assured her. He looked at her with a grin and Sam smiled back. She finished off her drink. “Another?” he asked. 

“Sure,” she replied.

Jack leaned over the bar looking for the bartender. “Hey, barkeep,” he called out.

The night went on and the drinks were really going. At one point, Greg had surprised Cheryl with the fact his mom decided to babysit and they were calling this their ‘date night’, while Sam and Jack were at the pool table. Sam was getting her pool cue ready while Jack was racking up the balls. “Alright, whenever you’re ready Captain,” he told her. Sam got ready to break them. “No, no, not like that,” he insisted, “The damn ball is gonna go flying off the table if you do that.”

“I think I can play a game of pool,” she answered.

Jack grabbed her arms. “Alright if you’re going to play you need to aim the back of the stick not your arms towards the thing,” he told her. Sam laughed a little as he was trying to redirect her stance. “Just like that,” he added. She aimed and hit the ball, breaking it the triangle. “See? Now you are stripes,” he told her.

“What? I thought I got the solids?” she answered.  
“No, you got a stripe in,” he insisted.

Sam raised her brow, walking over to grab the ball she hit. “Ha! Solid!” she said triumphantly.

Jack gave her a half smirk as he gestured to the table for her to take another shot. He stepped back as she got ready to take another shot. “Why is a woman like you not wearing a ring on your finger?” he asked.

“Because I can’t seem to find a guy who likes the fact that I love my job,” she replied, “I was engaged until three days ago.”  
“What happened?” he asked.  
“He wanted a wife to control and I don’t like being controlled,” she replied.  
“I like women who can think for themselves,” he commented.

Sam raised her brow. “Is that so?” she asked. Jack walked over and stood in front of her.

“Hey, my ex-wife wasn’t a dumb woman I don’t like dumb women they’re boring,” he replied.

She smirked. He was actually a really good looking man. They were leaning in close but then she backed up. “I need another drink,” she told him.

“Good idea!” he answered.

He walked away and Sam leaned against the pool table, biting her lip when he came back with another drink. “Thank you,” she said. Jack tapped his glass against hers. He set his glass on the side of the pool table and went to take his next shot.

“You know I’ve got a nice place out in Colorado that sits by a pond, you should come out there,” he answered.  
“Kind of bold,” she commented.

Jack hit two stripes into two pockets. He glanced at her and shrugged a little before grabbing his glass. “Trying to live a little,” he replied. 

Sam took another drink from her cup as she watched him round the table to take his next shot. She bit her lower lip. “Now I am also going to be bold,” she added. Having missed his shot, Jack stood up from his spot on the table and looked at her, setting his pool cue by the table, resting his hand on the side.

“Oh really? And how is that?” he asked.

Instead of answering, she wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. Jack wrapped his free arm around her back, kissing her back. Pulling away they were smiling at each other before kissing again.

The next morning, Sam woke up in a very unfamiliar room. She winced when the sunlight that was peeking through the curtain. She looked over her shoulder and she saw Jack still fast asleep. Biting her lip nervously, she slowly climbed out of bed hoping not to wake him as she gathered her clothes that were strewn about on the floor. 

Pulling them on, she kept glancing at him to make sure he wouldn’t wake up. When he didn’t, she walked over to the hotel room door. She glanced back one more time, starting to wonder that maybe leaving was a bad idea. Deciding against it, she opened the door and quietly closed it behind her.

Six weeks later, Sam was sitting in Cheryl’s bathroom. “I told you to have fun, but you took it to a whole different level,” Cheryl commented.

“Ha, ha,” Sam answered, rubbing her shoulder.  
“You might not even be pregnant what are the chances of that happening?” Cheryl asked.  
“15 to 20% without any form of birth control, with a condom, 2 to 3%, and while on the pill 1%,” Sam replied.  
“See? Those are good odds,” Cheryl told her.  
“It would be if I remembered if we used any form of it or not,” Sam replied.  
“Aren’t you on the pill?” Cheryl asked.  
“I was on an antibiotic for that cold I had the week before so it renders the pill pointless basically,” Sam replied.

Cheryl sat on the bathroom counter. “Hey!” Sam told her moving her pregnancy test away from her.

“Sorry,” Cheryl answered.

Sam’s watch started beeping. “Here goes nothing,” Cheryl told her. 

“Or everything,” Sam replied.

Cheryl bit her lower lip as Sam looked at the test. “Damn…” Sam muttered. Sam tossed the test on the counter. “Positive,” she sighed. Sam sat down on the floor and up against the wall.

“Didn’t you get his full name?” Cheryl asked.  
“No, just Jack with a cabin by a pond in Colorado,” Sam replied, “Shouldn’t be hard to find.”

Cheryl shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry, Sam,” she murmured.

“Why? You didn’t get me pregnant,” Sam replied, standing up.  
“No but I talked you into going out,” Cheryl stated as she followed her.

Sam entered the kitchen and went to grab some coffee, but instead she grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge instead. “What are you going to do?” Cheryl asked. Sam shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m not sure yet, I’m still kind of trying to register what’s happening,” she replied.

Sam leaned against the counter, her arm resting over her middle. “It’s kind of weird though. All the science I’ve studied and everything, they don’t tell you in high school biology the feelings you’ll feel when the test is positive,” she commented.

“Probably because no one feels the same?” Cheryl suggested.  
“Most likely,” Sam replied with a deep breath.

Sam let out a deep breath. “How are you feeling?” Cheryl asked.

“Freaked out for starters,” Sam replied, “I wasn’t expecting this. Especially being in the military, single, and now pregnant. The single part makes this even more complicated.”  
“Why?” Cheryl asked.  
“The regulations, Cheryl, remember? Because of Desert Storm they won’t let single parents enlist, but people who are single parents already in the military, we have to jump through hoops to keep our spots,” Sam explained.  
“So why not put it up for adoption?” Cheryl asked, “Or even abortion?”

Sam shook her head slowly. “Abortion I don’t even want to give that thought a second of my time, because it’s not its fault it’s here,” she replied.

“Adoption then?” Cheryl suggested.

Sam was mulling over her options. “I’m twenty-eight almost twenty-nine, not married, no perspectives, and I’m married to my work,” she replied.

“So you’re going to keep it?” Cheryl asked.

Sam looked at her. “Looks like it,” she replied. She let out a deep breath. “At least for now,” she added. 

March 18th, 1997, Sam was sitting in her hospital bed staring at her newborn daughter. The baby had long fallen asleep in her arms and the new mother was absolutely exhausted. She reached over, tracing her cheek. “You’re so beautiful,” she whispered. The baby opened her eyes for a brief second before they closed again. 

Sam smiled as she rocked side to side a little bit, staring at the sleeping newborn in her arms. “My little Jessie,” she murmured. She looked around the hospital room she was in. Cheryl had to get home and Mark and his wife had to get some sleep themselves. So it was just Sam and Jessie. She sat back against the bed, feeling a little relaxed that everyone was gone. “Well it looks like it’s you and me,” she commented, “And if by some miracle I find your dad, hopefully he’ll want to be in the picture too.”

In present time, Sam was watching as her daughter slept and let out a deep breath as she rubbed the back of her neck. She tilted her head from side to side as she sat down in the rocking chair. How could he want to be in her life if he didn’t even know? Before, Sam thought she was doing the right thing, keeping Jessie safe. Now…now she wasn’t so sure, but where could she even begin to explain this to him? Would he even be forgiving? Would he even want to be if she told him the truth? Would he even remember?


End file.
